Why You Annoy Me
by FabledOrange
Summary: Lily Evans wanted to believe that the Astronomy Tower was a place of peace and serenity. James Potter, however, seemed to prove that wrong. -Finished, Summary Redone 2010 -
1. The Mysterious Little Mirror

Why You Annoy Me

Lily Evans swatted the stupid rose petals that were starting to annoy her a whole lot. Lots of them, those blood-red petals, were swirling down on her from the ceiling, following her wherever she went. This, ladies and gentlemen, made students of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry stare at her as she passed. 

The redhead was definitely getting irritated by the minute. More of the bloody rose petals were raining down at her, leaving a trail of supposed-to-be-parts of a flower behind her. She was definitely going to get James Potter…just he wait…

"Oh don't worry, Lils," said her best friend, Aurora Callaway, reassuringly. "I'm sure James had a good reason."

"To annoy the hell out of me the whole day?" Lily snapped, swatting a few more petals from her line of vision. "I think that's not a good reason at all."

Aurora opened the door to their last class, Transfiguration, with Lily and her rose petals closely in tow. 

Lily Evans was an ordinary Gryffindor sixth year, having dark, copper-hued hair that reached down to the small of her back. Startlingly green eyes covered by long, thick eyelashes; everyone was amazed by how unique her eye color was. Her cream-colored complexion suited her just fine, with a slender and quite tall build of 5'7 to accompany it. She's a practically friend to everybody, except Slytherins, of course, for people find her approachable. Lily's also considered one of the heartthrobs of the said school, but not at the top of the popularity scale.

Aurora Callaway, meanwhile, was yet another normal Gryffindor sixth year, having a brother named Alexander Hemmingway who just graduated last year. The school population considers her as Sirius Black's counterpart, for she had most of the male population of Hogwarts practically groveling on her feet, praising the very ground she walked on. She had long, light brown hair that reached to the middle of her back, a pale complexion, and bright sapphire eyes.

"And what, pray tell, Miss Evans, are those following your every step?" Minerva McGonagall asked, gesturing towards the petals, which continued to fall down to the floor. 

"Apparently, Professor, they're someone's ideas of how to apologize." She replied, continuing to walk to her seat conveniently placed before James Potter's. 

"Well, Miss Evans, I would rather appreciate it if you can extinguish these petals before I start class." McGonagall instructed, waiting on Lily to make the petals disappear. 

But Lily didn't move.

"Professor, I'm so sorry to say that I'm afraid I," She coughed loudly towards the person behind her. "Cannot put this little prank to its end."

"Very well," McGonagall said, raising her eyes towards the messy-haired boy who sat behind Lily. "I would have to finish class ignoring these petals then."

Transfiguration continued pretty well, except for the fact that James Potter continued to annoy the hell out of Lily. He kept passing notes, tapping her shoulder; he even resorted to poking her head with his wand. Why, you ask, is James asking for Lily's forgiveness? 

It's because last Saturday was a Hogsmeade weekend, and James had promised to meet Lily down at the Three Broomsticks. Lily, meanwhile, was stood up for three hours. 

Sirius Black snorted amusedly as Lily gave a slight squeal, James poking Lily's head.

"POTTER!" 

James looked up to see McGonagall staring at him. 

"Yes, Professor McGonagall?" the said boy asked innocently, much to the smirks of his friends and admirers. 

"Five points from Gryffindor for disrupting class." The professor stated simply, waving her hand to gesture that they could get back on transfiguring their rocks. It was quite hard; the lesson was, for they were required to change the rock to become a dog.

Lily turned back to her rock. She wasn't the Transfiguration whiz at all – she was more of a Charm expert after all. Aurora was doing just fine; only problem was her dog still had a rock for a head. 

"—it's all in the wrist, Longbottom. It's all in the wrist — no, Wellingham, the other way – twist it the _other_ way…" McGonagall could be heard correcting the rest of the class, tsk-tsk-ing a few times as she passed by students. 

"So Lils," said James, who was showing off by changing of the breed of his dog. "You forgive me now?"

Lily didn't answer him — instead, she just smirked and continued to swat a few petals towards James's way and ignore the boy. 

"Lily…" James repeated, wanting to get his best friend's attention. "Do you forgive me now?" 

The girl didn't respond. 

"You know, James, if you stop showing off at how good you are in Transfiguration," his other best friend, Sirius Black started. "She'd pay attention to you." 

James glared at him – Sirius was showing off as well. Sirius was quite happy though – some Hufflepuffs were giggling at him and looking his direction. In an act of appreciation, Sirius flashed a million-dollar smile and sent them swooning.

"Honestly, you never learn, Black." Aurora said under her breath. Unfortunately for her, Sirius had keen hearing and heard her right. "It's already noisy and hot in this classroom and you just HAD to put in squeals of the idiotic bimbos of this earth."

Lily snorted. 

"It's _hot_ in here, Callaway?" Sirius smirked as James and Remus stared at him. Provoking Aurora's anger wasn't actually the best thing to do. "I suppose it's from my indescribable aura – I think you might be falling for me, my beloved Aurora."

It was Aurora's turn to snort. "Typical of you, Black," said the brunette, who was now petting her dog (which, I might add, had the right head). "Walking around with your big egotistical head and claiming you're so _hot_. Like that's true."

Sirius stopped changing the breed of his dog and peered at Aurora's. It was a big, black, shaggy dog, sitting obediently atop her desk and wagging its tail. Sirius smirked once again. 

"Why, my beloved Aurora, you really do love me." Sirius stated, making James and Remus suppress their laughter. 

 Aurora death-glared him. "And what the hell does this cute little innocent dog have to do with you, Black?"

Remus answered the question for Sirius. "Don't worry, Aurora…it has nothing to do with him, actually…"

"So, you forgive me yet?" James suddenly asked; he cut the fight that was starting to develop between his best friend and Aurora. 

Lily turned around, looking at her best friend in the eye. "Yes, James. I forgave you last night, don't you remember?"

"So you do forgive me!"

"So," Lily started, looking up at the rose petals that were continuing to rain down upon her and her dog. "Can you please get this stupid charm off me?"

James smirked. "Alright, alright. But you do forgive me, right?"

Lily glared. "If you don't take this stupid spell off me, Potter, I probably wouldn't. I even hate roses, Potter."

With an instant flick of his wrist, the petals were gone, leaving the last of them falling helplessly to the floor.

*

Lily Evans and James Potter had been best friends for the past six years. They met way back at the first train ride to Hogwarts, and after a little bit of arguing; everything went fine on and after.

James was glad he had a girl for another best friend, for having a best friend of the opposite gender was quite useful. If you had to go to a date, you can ask her/him if you looked okay at a guy's/girl's point of view; you can ask him/her about relationship problems, again, because of their point of view. If you didn't have a date and you needed one, you can turn to him/her. Lily can be…a…medium of the sort if you want other girls to notice you (not that James can't accomplish that by himself). All in all, for James, having Lily as a best friend was a good thing.

Lily, meanwhile, was quite all right with the idea of James being one of her best friends. Problem is, you can be glared at by the rest of the female population; become a prank victim and be used by their countless fans to be a way to get to know them better. Fan clubs can abduct her and squeeze information out of her (like what were the colors of James's and Sirius's boxers, Lily thought with a shiver); beg her relentlessly for information, or be tracked down by fans and be killed by them for the fact that she was friends with the Marauders.  

"Oh look, there he is…doesn't he look absolutely _handsome?_"

"C'mon, Sirius is more handsome that him – look at his hair…"

"Oh geez, James's so cute as always!!!!"

Lily and Aurora sighed. As they were strolling down the hallway that led to the Gryffindor Tower, several groupies flocked all around them, squealing like little pigs. The two of them hated it as always – stupid, idiotic, mindless bimbos who fawned all over the boys behind them. Fortunately, as the two of them saw it, Peter Pettigrew was safely tucked in bed at the infirmary. Poor boy, always getting into accidents…

The fan clubs died away a few minutes later, scurrying off towards their own common rooms to share their own uh…_life changing _(more like life boring) experiences, i.e. gossip.

Remus led the group, saying the password to the Fat Lady and stepping inside the hole, with the rest of the group clambering over the hole.

"—so who's you're flavor-of-the-week, Prongs?"

"Haven't really decided yet…I guess ooh look – hottie at nine."

Lily sighed exasperatedly. This was yet another thing she hated about James and his little gang – they toss out girls too much. Well, except good 'ol Remus Lupin, the kind, levelheaded, non-egotistical member of their little group. 

"Ooh, goddammit, I hate him, I hate him so much I can get his big, egotistical head and stick it in the lake – let him drown – mindless of the countless bimbos that would kill me…" Aurora hissed, fighting the urge to hurl a curse towards her male counterpart. 

"What seemingly deep grudge do you have against Sirius, Aurora? I've been asking you that ever since our first year and you never answer me." Lily asked as they trudged up the girls' dormitory, shutting the dormitory door behind them as they walked to their beds.

"I don't have a grudge." Aurora explained, taking off her school robes and starting to undress herself. "It's just that I find his large egotistical head that can't fit through doors absolutely annoying. Don't you, well…for example, get irritated at James when he's like that?" 

Lily narrowed her eyes. "Oh I do, stupid git," she said, not knowing what she was saying. "Using girls like heaps of useless trash. I sometimes feel so sorry for the girls they keep on playing with. Good thing Remus isn't like that." 

Aurora giggled. "Of course he isn't. He's Remus. Question though – how come you're so irritated with James now?"

Lily looked down at the ruby carpet, deep in thought. "I don't know…"

*

Sirius smirked as he sat on his four-poster, holding out a mirror before him. James was showering in the boys' bathroom and Remus was quietly reading a book, covers all put around him. Peter Pettigrew, meanwhile, was still in the infirmary. 

"Just what the hell are you smirking about, Padfoot?" James asked; stepping out of the shower clad in nothing but a towel. He was rather muscular, but not bulky; the muscles were traced perfectly across his chest and arms. His pale complexion gleamed in the candlelight as his hazel-hued eyes were focused on his best friend, his wet, and damp, jet-black hair sticking up in all places. Between his fingers, he played with his wire-rimmed glasses. 

"This," Sirius answered, holding out the mirror for the both of them to see. Remus shifted to see clearly what he was holding out. 

It was a rectangular mirror, quite like the ones he and James used in different detentions, only bigger. It seemed to show figures moving around in a room just like their dormitory, only a little bit brighter. 

"Padfoot," Remus started, closing the book he was reading and placing it on the bedside table. "That couldn't possibly be the girl's dormitory, is it?"

Sirius nodded fervently, making the mirror shake as well. As the scenery on the piece of reflective glass moved, James examined it closely. Someone, who apparently caught James's eye since his mouth was agape, was walking across the room clad in a loose-fitting shirt. Her legs were quite long and perfect, cream-colored complexion shining slightly by the candlelight. 

Interested on who the girl could be, James took the mirror away from Sirius and tilted it, seeing more of the girl. All he saw next was that the figure had the shirt down to her knees, and that she had copper-hued hair. Quite a voluptuous figure, James might add.

"Give me that, Prongs," Sirius said, snatching the mirror back. "Just whom were you staring at, anyway? Divina McKeller?"

James shook his head.  

Remus snorted. "Divina McKeller?" he said disbelievingly. "Why would James stare at her? She's just a mindless —

Sirius waved a finger. "Now, Moony, that's not like you."

Remus smiled. "Sorry, but she just gets on my nerves a whole lot. Little git — thinking she's all that. Don't you even remember when she asked us out, nose up and all?"

"Ugh, don't remind me. Weird name too. I can't seem to know how it's pronounced. Dai-vee-nah or Dee-vee-nah…" James said sickeningly. "She's just one of those little bimbos – has air for brains. Airheads, in shorter terms."

"It's even a miracle she seems to pass our exams." Sirius snorted. "So, who were you staring at, Prongs?"

"I don't really know." James sighed. "But she's…_beautiful._"

*

Aurora stared silently stared at something shimmering under Divina McKeller's four-poster. It triggered her curiosity. 

"Hey Lils? Can you go there to Dibimbo's bed and check that thing out?" 

Lily, who was already wearing her pajama bottoms under her overly large shirt, looked at her curiously. "Dibimbo? You mean Thy Bimbo?"

"Yeah, however her name's pronounced." 

The copper-haired girl walked to the said bed, crouching down low to see that a small, handheld mirror was placed under it. She took the mirror and peered, seeing that figures were moving upon its surface.

As Lily held the mirror close to her, she noted someone who was absolutely handsome moving on the surface. She moved her face closer and tried to listen; people were talking on the other side. 

'—talking about us—'

'—had a good impression—'

'—she hates me! Can you believe that—'

A blush silently crept upon her pale cheeks – color was rising onto her face fast. The figure pictured in the mirror was only wearing a towel, with beautifully chiseled muscles that adorned his pale complexion. Unfortunately, his face wasn't shown.

"So, what is it, Lils?" Aurora's voice snapped her out of her little reverie. Trying to hide the blush in her cheeks, Lily stood up and handed the mirror to Aurora. 

"I don't know."

*

"Ooh, they're talking…" Sirius said, facing the mirror back to him. As he peered into it, he met the clearest blue eyes he had ever seen in his whole life. 

"CALLAWAY!!!!!!!"

At the same time, someone screamed from the girls' dormitory.

 "BLACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Why You Annoy Me

Author's notes: Not really love/hate between Lily and James, but it will be. ^^ I hope you guys liked and please, r&r!!! ^^ Thank you!


	2. The Mysterious Little Mirror: Part 2

She sat huffily on the comfy couch placed near the fireplace, angrily throwing her books down on the carpet. In curiosity, her best friend looked up at her.

It was already half past seven in the evening, with the stars shining bright upon the dark, night sky. The wind was blowing harshly as usual, with rain lashing out on the windows and tree branches swaying dangerously with the wind. Somehow, it matched Lily's mood perfectly.

"Something wrong, Lils?" asked Aurora, who just stopped writing her Charms essay to question her best friend.

"I just witnessed Potter dump his flavor-of-the-week." Lily said grumpily, sighing exasperatedly as she remembered the disastrous face the girl had on her face. She couldn't remember her name – it was probably Joan Carlson, a Ravenclaw fifth year, but Lily probably wouldn't care.

She was too pissed off about James's 'flavor-of-the-week' method. 

Trashing girls about like they're useless pieces of trash.

How…_weak._

"Really now, Lils, you've been using 'Potter' so often for the past three weeks. If you continue that, people might think you're not even friends." Aurora remarked, turning back to her unfinished essay. 

"But he's been so annoying!!!! How can he use girls like that?"

Aurora placed her blue eyes once again on the redheaded girl, raising her eyebrows inquiringly. "How come you're so worked up about that, anyway? You're not the one who's being used, you know."

Lily sighed again. "Aurora, what if you were the one being used just like that?" 

"Well," Aurora paused, thinking of an appropriate answer. "I'd make sure I wouldn't be stupid enough to fall for a guy like that."

Silence passed between the friends, being drowned immediately by the noise erupting from the Gryffindors in the common room. People were up and about, chattering around, laughing happily like they had no care in the world. 

"What if…" Lily started to murmur. Deep inside of her, she just wanted to say it – it seemed too hard to keep it all to herself. "You fell for a guy like that?"

Aurora suddenly turned to her. "Did you say something, Lily?"

"Nope…I didn't say anything."

*

Half past nine. 

Lily silently sat on the edge of her bed, trying to sort out the thoughts swimming in her head. Not even the loud, ear-deafening laughs and conversations of Divina McKeller and her little group of prissy friends could distract her from her thinking. Eyes cast on the ruby red carpet; she tightened her grip on the scarlet duvet she was sitting on.

What was she feeling, anyway? Why was she so worked up about the fact that James and Sirius had their flavors-of-the-week? She was comfortable with their little 'game' ever since it stared – just last year, in fact. So how come she wasn't comfortable with it now? 

The redhead raised her gaze and looked around the room – Aurora wasn't inside their dormitory yet. Divina McKeller & Marianne Avant (missing a third member by the name of Kristin Walker), two of her fellow female sixth years, was chatting oh-so-noisily by their beds, giggling like mad. Lily assumed they were talking about boys again.

Feeling lonely that Aurora wasn't around, she took a glance of the room once again. Something shiny caught her attention.

It was there once again, the pocket-sized mirror Sirius used to spy on people. With a snort, she pushed through the small crowd of girls by the other end of the room and snatched the mirror. 

"Hey —! Evans, what do you think you're doing?" said Divina, surprised that Lily just barged in the middle of their conversation. 

"Nothing that you should know about, McKeller." Lily said coolly, walking to the door. Just when Divina was about to retort, the door was slammed shut, and Aurora Melpomene Callaway stood in her place, arms laden with books and rolls of parchment.

*

"Someone took the mirror!" exclaimed Sirius Black, jumping up from his four-poster and alarming his fellow Marauders. "I can't hear Divina anymore – someone took the mirror!"

James Potter sighed and tightened his hold on the sixth year girl in his arms, Kristin Walker. He was satisfied he was able to find his pick-of-the-week.

"Calm down, Sirius." Said James, while Remus snickered as he put his attention back on his book. "It's just a mirror."

Sirius glared at him, his dark-hued hair falling gracefully around his face. "Just a mirror?! It's _the_ mirror, James! It's one of the most wonderful mirrors in the world!"

Kristin scrunched up her nose. "What is, like, this mirror anyway?"

"It's a very special mirror, Kris," James tried explaining it in the simplest way – Kristin wasn't exactly the most intelligent person in the world. "Sirius loves his mirror very much."

"I do not! It's just a very useful mirror!"

Someone coughed loudly at the other side of the room, making four pairs of eyes turn to the figure standing on the doorway. Peter Pettigrew was once again nowhere to be found – he was in the infirmary for falling onto the trick step in one of the staircases. Frank Longbottom, meanwhile, was still downstairs at the common room. 

"Don't worry your ass off, Sirius — I have your mirror." Said a feminine voice, confidently striding down the aisle to drop off the mirror on Sirius's lap. Copper-hued hair swayed rhythmically with her steps, her long lounging robe touching the ruby carpet of the boys' dormitory. Her pale complexion glowed silently under the candlelight, her slipper-wearing feet avoiding the abundance of clothes strewn across the floor.  

"Oh Lils, you are such a lifesaver!" Sirius said happily, pulling Lily down in a tight bear hug. Lily squirmed, trying to wring herself free from the heartthrob's grip, letting go of the said mirror and letting it land on Sirius's bed. She wasn't actually comfortable with Sirius hugging her like this – so tight, his hug was, to the point that Lily found it hard to breathe. 

"Sirius, let go of Lily before she dies." Said Remus knowingly, seeing the gagged look Lily had upon her face. James and Kristin were staring at the two.

"Listen to — Remus — Sirius — you don't — want me — dead!" Lily choked out, pushing her hands against Sirius' chest to free her body from him. Sirius happily obliged, taking the lost mirror and placing it next to its partner. 

"The next time you want to spy on us, Sirius," said Lily amusedly, although Remus could detect that she was hiding something behind her tone, "Use something else."

Padfoot smirked. "Surely, milady." He faked a bow in front of Lily and snickered, lips turning into a foul scowl as he saw someone else standing by the doorway. 

"I was wondering where you'd been, Lils," said a voice, presumably Aurora's. Lily turned around to see Aurora standing where she had been a few minutes ago, a glare etched upon her face as she saw Sirius.   

Lily tried to avoid the glances James and Kristin were giving her. Deep in her heart, she wanted to shove Kristin off James's lap. But of course, she fought the urge. "Shouldn't have worried, Mel."

Aurora glared — at her, this time. "Who're you calling Mel?! I told you not to call me by that!" 

Sirius smirked. "Mel? How come it's Mel? Is it some kind of horrendous middle name or something?" 

Aurora glared once again. "Shut up, _Orion._"

Sirius flinched. "Who told you that?!"

"I have my sources."

"Ooh, I'll make sure I'll found out what 'Mel' means, Callaway!"

"Really now! Try or die trying, Black!"

"Don't say that to me — I'll definitely know what that means, Callaway! You'll soon regret that you challenged me, Sirius Black!"

"What a real egotistical head you have, _Orion_. No wonder you can't get through doors."

"Like you have a deflated head, _Mel._ It's more of a wonder you manage to get your clothes over your head."

"Pity nothing can enter your head, Black."

Sirius snorted. "Like anything can enter yours."

"I learn things, Black. Just like now — I learned how much of a bigheaded git you are — Oh wait, I learned that fact _years_ ago. No need to repeat that."

Lily and Remus flinched. This was one thing about Aurora they couldn't handle – her temper. She was even scarier than a redhead if she lost her patience. And surely, right now, her patience was ebbing away. Better to stow Aurora away from the boys' dormitory rather than to stay here…

"C'mon Aurora, let's go." Lily said softly, striding towards her friend and grabbing her by the arm, also unconsciously throwing a glare at James and his pick-of-the-week. 

"But Lils —

"Backing out, are you?" Sirius hollered after them, laughing evilly as Remus shut the door. Remus could be heard reprimanding Sirius about his and Aurora's little fight, which Aurora was grateful for. 

And silently, with Lily quietly fuming about how close James and Kristin was, they made their way to the girls' dorm.

*

It was probably near midnight, with every four-poster having its draperies closed, signaling that the occupant was already asleep. One, though, was wide-awake, staring at the top of the scarlet canopy. Sleep finally gave up on trying to conquer her senses — too much was going on inside her mind. 

Lily tightened her grip on a handful of her sheets. She couldn't solve the stupid problem that kept plaguing her mind every time she tried to close her eyes. She tried to erase the image from her mind's eye but nothing happened. Every time she'd close her eyes, images of her best friend always appeared to her, therefore she couldn't get any sleep.

The redhead couldn't understand it. For the past three weeks of the month of October, she's been feeling very strange around her best friend, something secretly eating her up inside every time. Her stomach felt that it was entangled in huge knots, flip-flopping, also feeling like butterflies were fluttering inside. Her hands always felt clammy and her voice seemed to crack. She always smiled uncontrollably when James was smiling at her, a grin just creeping upon her lips when she really didn't want it to. Lily also found herself staring after the sixteen-year-old Gryffindor Chaser, only to shake her head to push herself out of her trance a while later. 

In all of her years of being friends with James Potter, she never really paid attention to the once skinny, tall kid with weird hair and glasses. She always thought of James as James, the prankster, the girl-loving playboy and nothing more — more importantly, as a friend. But now, after five years of friendship, her heart was secretly longing for more….

How? She didn't know. But why now, you ask? Lily smiled to herself, knowing what the answer was. It was at this time she suddenly noticed everything about James – she could probably notice anything about James, well, of course, other than Sirius. Lily giggled – Sirius was sometimes too dumb to even notice that James was out of character. Maybe that's why Aurora hated him…

She loved the way James's hair stuck up at the ends, giving it an adorable ruffled look; but she hated it when James ruffled it up just to make girls notice how…uh…_cute_ he was. She loved James's hazel-colored eyes, which can sparkle in mischief and glimmer in kindness, always captivating her. She loves James's soothing voice, always laughing or telling jokes; disguised in hushed whispers and comforting words that always made Lily cheer up for the day. She loved the way his arms would encircle around her and comfort her silently when she cries; she found it hard to tell anyone about the things she usually cries about, afraid that Aurora or Sirius would find it utterly shallow. But James never did, since James always understood.

And that was the thing she loved about him the most. He understood everything about her, all her secrets, and all her frustrations when the tests are near… 

In shorter terms, Lily loved James.

And that was the darkest of her secrets.

She couldn't bring up the topic of 'Oh hi James, do you know I love you?' so easily — she knew it never was easy to say those things. Lily often wondered on how his fan girls managed to say it out loud – on huge banners, even. 

But another fear was eating her up inside. 

Lily sighed and thought it was better to tackle her fear on the next sleepless night, for sleep was starting to overcome her. Settling at a comfortable position, Lily closed her eyes and went to sleep.

*

"Gee…I wonder how late Lily stayed up last night…"

"BLACK?! What the hell are you doing here?!" 

"James's been really frantic about something that Lily did to him yesterday – been worrying about it the whole night. Don't remember much…I haven't been listening."

"Like anything can enter your brain anyway." 

"Why you —"

"Hey, at least I listen to Lily if she has problems."

"I bet she has a HUGE problem right now and you don't even know about it."

She threw a pillow over her shoulder, not even caring to open her eyes and check if she hit the two. "Will you two shut the hell up?! I'm still sleeping here!" she mumbled angrily, burying her head on the rest of the pillows. 

"Oh, finally, you're awake." Aurora said, plopping on her bed as Sirius followed her. She glared at him before turning back to Lily. "Do you have any idea what time it is?"

Lily grumbled once again. "I don't have any idea and I don't care."

"It's already noon." Sirius said simply, running a hand through his hair. 

With that, Lily bolted up, apparently finding the fact that she had slept for 12 hours unbelievable. Her long, red hair was a tangled mess as she sat up, rubbing her eyes as if to clear her line of vision.

"NOON?!" Lily screamed, starting to dart around the room to gather her stuff and take a shower. Just as she was about to set foot on the bathroom tiles, Sirius coughed.

"It's a Saturday." 

Lily sighed in relief. "Thank God." She turned to Sirius. "So Sirius, please, kindly leave the girls' dormitory so I could have a decent bath."

"You're going to be a room away anyway."

Aurora smirked. "Yes, Lily would be a room away. It means you are going to stay with me, in the girls' dormitory. Why Sirius, you're falling in love with me, aren't you?" 

Scrunching up his nose, Sirius stuck out his tongue in a child-like manner and started to stalk out of the room. "Be stuck with you? O c'mon, no way, Callaway. Maybe it's you who wants to be stuck with me…" he said with a snicker, resulting in a scarlet pillow being thrown to his direction. 

"Eew! I certainly don't want to be stuck with you, an overly large headed —

Lily held up a hand. "I think it would be best if I took a shower in silence. That means you two should stop."

Sirius stuck out his tongue again and walked out of the room, shutting the door behind him as Aurora glared for the umpteenth time this year. With peace and quiet finally befalling the room, Lily smiled and entered the huge and intricately decorated bathroom.

Why You Annoy Me: Part 2

Author's notes: I'm still deciding if I want to print this for me to read all over again (check any mistakes and all that) while I'm at school…

Special Author's notes: To great author Dimantrien (if you're reading this): I hope you don't take the name 'Aurora', my OC, as a form of plagiarism. I really didn't have the idea to copy your OC's name – I came across the name 'Aurora' in my Mythology book, then added 'Melpomene' to it and poof! I hope you don't mind!

Thank you so much, my first reviewers, for giving me inspiration! For some weird reason, my brain always wanders off to what could happen between Sirius and Aurora. Anyone who wants anything on that pairing, please tell me! ^^ I'd be happy to make another story about them. ^^

Please, R&R! Any ideas, I'm glad to hear them!


	3. The Little Trip To Hogsmeade

"Oh really now, my dear Aurora, that wasn't an accident."

"Oh yes it was!"

These words rang throughout the boys' dormitory, each and every word echoing off the walls. Aurora was standing ground as Sirius was sitting on his bed; James, Remus, Peter and Lily sitting on James's relatively clean bed (it was cleaner compared to Sirius'). 

Sirius Orion Black and Aurora Melpomene Callaway were fighting once again, bickering at each other for the umpteenth time this day. It seemed that Sirius saw Aurora sprawled across his bed (his relatively messy bed) when he entered the boys' dormitory, with Lily wearing a mask of shock as James tried to control his laughter. 

The truth was, Aurora volunteered to accompany Lily to the boys' dormitory, since she had nothing to do and news that Sirius wasn't there (probably off in a snog session) delighted her. The two of them trod off to the dormitory, and arrived there with James, Remus and Peter huddling over a piece of paper. Aurora was going to sit on James bed when a huge stack of books suddenly and accidentally tripped the girl and she landed on Sirius' bed, ankle twisted. 

And now Aurora was standing there, grateful to good 'ol Remus who fixed her ankle for her. Sirius was sneering at the brown-haired girl, a huge smirk playing upon his lipstick-tainted lips. 

"Padfoot, do you know you still have lipstick on your lips?" Remus asked innocently, de-crossing his legs as he stared pointedly at Sirius. 

James smiled, tucking away the piece of paper they were fiddling ago inside the safety of his robes. "Fresh from a snog session…"

The dark-haired heartthrob grinned sheepishly, taking out a handkerchief and wiping the last of the substance off his lips. "There. Better?"

The three, including Peter, nodded. 

"Well, no use to stay here, now that the stupid big-headed git is around." Aurora turned to Remus with a kind-hearted smile, causing Sirius to unknowingly scowl. "Thanks Remus," she said softly, pecking the light-haired member of the Marauders on the cheek. 

Remus smiled as well, feeling a light blush creeping upon his cheeks as she turned on her heel to leave. Sirius was still scowling at her as she closed the door behind her.

"Are you sure it's really nothing?" James suddenly spoke up, tugging childishly at Lily's robes. He had a puppy-dog look etched on his face. Lily laughed. 

"Yes, I'm sure I didn't glare at you last night." She smiled wholeheartedly at him; making his lips break into his signature oh-I'm-so-happy-and-I-know-I'm-making-you-blush million-dollar smile. Sirius, meanwhile, gagged and pretended to choke at James. 

"How sickeningly sweet. James, you know, you should choose Lily as your next girlfriend if you're that sweet to her." Sirius joked, earning a snigger from Peter and a frown from Remus. Lily pretended that she didn't hear whatever he just said. 

James snorted. "And Padfoot, what was that all about?" he asked, raising his eyebrows quizzically. 

Sirius looked innocent. "What?"

"You were glaring at Moony when Aurora kissed him!" Peter piped up, grinning. "Why?"

Lily laughed — it was an absolute sight to see Sirius blushing profusely. "I wasn't glaring!"

"You should've seen the look on your face, Padfoot – you were like you were ready to kill me." Remus stated amusedly, standing up from James's bed and heading to his own. 

"I was not! Why would I kill you, Moony?!" Sirius continued to deny his 'glare', receiving fits of sniggers from Lily, James and Peter. 

"Because Aurora kissed him, Sirius!" Lily laughed out, completely amused. "So her accusations _were_ right! You _are_ in love with her!"

Padfoot shook his head fervently. "I am NOT in love with Callaway!"

Just then, the door opened. "Lils, what are you taking so long for? And Black, still thinking about me?" Aurora smirked evilly. "How sweet." 

Sirius glared at her. "Of course I've been thinking of you – how to get rid of you, to be exact." 

"Maybe how to keep her around, Padfoot…" Remus snickered, resulting a pillow being thrown at the back of his head. "HEY! What was that for?!"

"That's not nice! Remus didn't do anything to you!" Aurora suddenly said defensively, taking a pillow from Peter's bed and shoving it on Sirius's handsome face. 

"I didn't do anything to you either!" Sirius fought back, whacking Aurora on the side of her head. 

"Well, you think that insulting me is a good idea?" she retorted, taking another pillow and throwing it at him. 

"Well…yes." Sirius answered, before taking another blow from Aurora. She giggled silently, suppressing her fits of laughter. 

"That's it — Aurora, let's go—" Lily took Aurora by her robes; the girl was still laughing at the look on Sirius's face — he was sputtering and seemed to have bit his tongue while accepting a blow. "—bye you three! I mean, four! We'll see you around — _stop laughing, Aurora!"_

*

Lily looked down on her feet. It had been an entire week ever since Aurora and Sirius' little fight about her being on his bed thing, and nothing had stopped them from bickering. They moved on to fighting about stupider things, like why Flitwick was so small (Aurora said maybe it was a normal condition for Flitwick's clan; Sirius said it was a birth deficiency), how come the goblets were gold and not silver, how come the High Table wasn't really high and how come if it rains rain doesn't drop down from the enchanted ceiling… 

Remus and Lily were getting irritated at the stupid little quibbles Sirius and Aurora just have to have every day. Peter, meanwhile, was quite all right with the squabbles they kept on having, except when Aurora accidentally knocked her cauldron off her fire and made its contents splash on Peter. The boy ended up having little boils all around his face for the potion was only to be used on animals.

James, meanwhile, paid no attention to the fights. In fact, he was quite amused by them. He kept sniggering at every comeback made. He found the fact that Sirius and Aurora fought in almost every subject very entertaining especially when he was bored.

"Hey, I just remembered," Remus spoke up as they arrived in the Gryffindor Common Room. "In the last Prefect meeting, they announced that this weekend was a Hogsmeade weekend." 

"Great! I can pick a new girlfriend there!" Sirius exclaimed, grinning like a maniac as Aurora sighed exasperatedly again. The heartthrob ignored this and turned to his best friend. "So who are you going to take to Hogsmeade, Prongs?"

James set his things on an empty chair and sat down on the chair's arms, smirking. "I don't know. I haven't found a girlfriend yet."

"You know, James, it's absolutely surprising to know the fact that you can't find a girlfriend when it seems you've dated almost _everyone._" Lily suddenly snapped, taking everyone by surprise. "I even think that the only girls you haven't dated are the first years."

Worriedly, James cast a concerned look towards his best friend. "What do you mean —"

Lily shook her head, bowing it down so that her bangs shadowed her eyes. "Never mind what I said," she muttered under her breath, abruptly standing from the couch she was sitting on and marching towards the girls' staircase. 

"Lils, wait a minute!" Aurora yelled, grabbing her book bag and running after the redhead. "Lily, what's wrong with you? Lily? Lily?"

But she ended up having a dormitory door shoved right before her face.

*

"Oh my god…oh my god…what did I just say…?" Lily panted, dropping her school things on the carpeted floor. Silently, she slid down the door she just slammed, auburn hair sliding behind her. Her heart was beating fast against her ribcage, blood pumping in her ears, breathing coming out it short gasps as she tried to control her hands. They were shaking.

_"Lily?" _

Aurora continued to bang upon the door. Lily buried her face in her hands, ignoring the loud knocks erupting from the other side. 

_"Lily, open the door!"_

"I'm fine, Aurora! Don't worry; I'm fine, all right? I just got a little head rush!" Lily shouted back, wincing. She wasn't good at lying very much.

_"Don't lie to me, Lily Evans! I know it if you're lying or not." _

Lily winced again, releasing her face from her hands, letting strands of copper-hued hair slip through her fingers. She was blushing profusely, and she seemed to have a difficulty in breathing. 

"I'm alright, Aurora. Can you let me stay in here for a little while? I need to think about things." She said out loud, hoping that Aurora could hear what she was saying. 

_"Okay, but I'm telling you – you have to tell me **everything**, you hear me? When I go in there?"_

She made a noise of affirmation.

"Alright. That's payback for making me stay with Black downstairs. James forced him to stay downstairs too."

The redhead raised her head, tilting it towards the door. "What do you mean? Where's Remus?"

Aurora seemed to be happy at hearing the name. _"Oh yeah! Remus is still downstairs! Thanks Lils! Now remember, you've got to tell me **everything.****"**_

She sighed in relief, hearing a set of footsteps walk away and leave her in silence. 

'I can't believe I said that out loud!' Lily thought to herself, staring down at her feet with wide eyes. 'I wonder what James would think…oh no…I didn't mean to say that out loud…and it sounded so mean too…but it was the truth! Only Sirius could've been the only one who dated more girls than him!'

Silence entered her mind once again. 

'I hope I didn't get the meaning across…damn, why should I be so mad at him, anyway? Just like Aurora said — I'm not the one being used…'

A tiny little voice in the back of her head spoke up. _'What if you were the one being used?'_

'That's just plain stupid. James would never use me like that. He's…he's James!'

_'He **is** James; James Potter, the ultimate bachelor in Hogwarts except for Sirius Black. Who, I might add, seems to have dated every girl from third year and above.'_

'James treats me differently.'

_'He treats you differently because you're his best friend. Now what if you weren't?'_

Lily rolled her eyes. 'You have so many 'what if' thingies. I don't want to answer that.'

'You're just afraid of the truth.'

'Hah, why the hell would I be afraid of a set of words? Oh,' she thought sardonically, rolling her eyes once again. 'Oh no, big words! Noooo! Run away, everybody! Run away! Those words are going to eat your brains!!!!'

Lily grimaced – doing that once again and she'll turn into Sirius…whom Aurora would hate, scream at, bicker with, probably snog with in the near future…

 The redhead was snapped out of her Sirius/Aurora thoughts when the tiny little irritating voice spoke up again.

_'You're afraid of the truth because it'll hurt you more than you'll ever know._'

Lily was absolutely pissed off now. Why the hell would she be arguing with a stupid little voice inside her head? She was definitely sane, thank you very much! 

"Lils, you ready now? I can't stand Black downstairs – Remus's telling him off for me. Isn't he sweet? Anyway, you okay?"

Aurora stopped her from retorting to the stupid little irritating voice in the back of her head. Standing up, she brushed off her school uniform and robes, running a hand through her long auburn hair and turning to the door. Opening it with a small click, she greeted the face of Aurora Callaway with a smile. 

A pained smile, that is. 

"Shit, did James do something wrong to you this time?" Aurora suddenly said, dropping her bag on her bed. "If he did I'll make sure he'll pay big time."

Lily gently shook her head. "No, don't worry, James didn't do anything. It's just that…I've got a lot on my mind and I really have to tell something important to you right now."

Aurora sighed, smiling as she popped onto her bed, facing Lily as she closed the door. "Go on," she urged, "Shoot."

The redhead took a deep breath and exhaled, producing a sound that reminded Aurora of whooshing wind. "I…I…"

"Lily! There you are!" said a masculine voice, throwing the door open and standing in the middle of the doorway. "Are you okay? Did I do something wrong?"

She shook her head in denial, making the sixteen-year-old boy relax. "I'm so glad."

"So what are you going to tell me, James?" Lily asked, as if she wasn't supposed to tell Aurora her deepest, darkest secret. 

"I don't have anyone to bring to Hogsmeade, so I guess you can come with me, right?" James looked at Aurora. "Unless you already have a date, since it seems Aurora's been dying to go with Sirius."

James ducked, knocking his glasses askew as he tried to dodge several things being thrown his way. It an outrage, Aurora even managed to lift Divina's trunk and shove it towards James's direction.

"I'D RATHER DIE THAN GO WITH HIM TO HOGSMEADE, YOU GIT!" Aurora screamed, hauling whatever she got her hands on to James's dodging form. "LET HIM GO TO HOGSMEADE HIMSELF!"

Remus sighed, just finished on telling Sirius that fighting with beautiful girls weren't right. "Oh no, here she goes again…Aurora!!"

Lily giggled – James got hit by a lamp square on his face and lost his balance, falling to the floor with the huge heap of pillows Aurora hit him with. 

Aurora was panting like mad this time, holding on to her Cleansweep (she was a Gryffindor Chaser) and standing there, long light brown hair matted to her face. Her cheeks were completely flushed and her knuckles were absolutely white – and somehow, Sirius's heart skipped a beat when he and Remus arrived at the girls' dormitory. 

"MY CLOOOOOOTHESS!!!!!!" someone screamed downstairs, and from the high-pitched, ear-deafening voice, everyone easily recognized it as Divina McKeller. 

Aurora raised her head, hair still matted to her face. "Oops."

"Ah, the joys of having you, my dear Aurora, as a fan."

Sirius ducked when another trunk heaved its way towards him.

*

"How dare he! Stupid little egotistical git! Me, be a fan of his? _He must be dreaming._"

Lily sighed. Aurora was, once again, making her little 'Oh-I-hate-Sirius-do-you-hate-him?' speeches. The wind was blowing harder than usual, with the coldness of November carefully seeping through. People were lining up to the Entrance Hall, waiting to pass by the gates and soon enter the Christmas card-looking village of Hogsmeade. 

"Aurora, quit it. Drone on and one of his fanclubs might kill you, you know." Lily pointed out. A fanclub was chattering a few people away from them. 

"I don't care. People need to see his bratty, egotistical side for once."

"Aurora, I think that's the side he always let the public see."

"Still, I don't care."

*

"Hey Lils, over here!!" James Potter waved over the crowd, his green sleeve standing out from the crowd of black. With a smile, Lily grabbed Aurora by the wrist and dragged her through the throng, finally stopping in front of the Marauders a few minutes later. 

"Why don't we try The Three Broomsticks first? They have a new drink – specially flavored butterbeer." Remus remarked, leading the group of six as they entered the said place. It was jam-packed with loads of students and creatures that are better off not known, with Madam Rosmerta and her glittering heels standing out from the crowd. 

"Oi, Madam Rosmerta!!!" Sirius screamed, gaining the attention of the lady. Madam Rosmerta smiled and waved. 

"What can I get you?" Rosmerta screamed back, still grinning. 

"Specially flavored butterbeers – two chocolate, one strawberry, one orange, one vanilla and one normally flavored!" James suddenly spoke up, as if reading the minds of his peers. 

Aurora raised her eyebrow. "How did you know what I wanted?" 

James shrugged. "I don't know. Why don't we just find a table and sit down first?"

The rest agreed to his idea and followed the unruly-haired boy through the mass of cloaked people, finally settling on a table near the end of the pub. 

"Here are my favorite boys," said Madam Rosmerta, gaining everyone's attention. "And who are these lovely young ladies?" 

Sirius snorted. 

"Aurora Callaway." Said the girl, introducing herself with a polite nod of her head. 

"Lily Evans."

Rosmerta smiled, the kind of smile that lets you know that this certain person was up to something. In shorter terms, the maniacal grin. "I'd rather not comment on Miss Evans, since I think there's something going on with her —" she turned her smile to Aurora after her next set of words, "—muggle-born, right?" 

Lily nodded. 

"But you…how come I suddenly see you having a future with Sirius?" Rosmerta suddenly remarked, making said teens stand up in complete outrage.  

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT?" they both said in unison, not agreeing with the fact that someone thought they had a relationship. Or…will be having. But they didn't care – it was all the same for them.

Rosmerta chuckled. "Nothing, dears, nothing. Hope ya'll enjoy your butterbeer!" she said with a laugh, trotting away with her heels glittering in the thick, winter sunlight.

Why You Annoy Me: Part 3

Author's notes: Hope you liked! Pls., R&R!


	4. The Little Trip To Hogsmeade: Part 2

"Strawberry!"

"Chocolate!"

"Strawberry!!!"

"Chocolate!!!"

"STRAWBERRY!!!"

"CHOCOLATE!!!"

"Will you just STOP IT?!"

The two 16-year-olds stopped arguing and turned to the pale-haired boy behind them. Sirius and Aurora were once again fighting; this time fighting about what flavor tasted better — chocolate or strawberry. Peter winced when Remus actually _screamed_, which was absolutely out of character of him.

"You've been arguing about that for a while now," Lily spoke up from the back of the group. "They're just flavors, you know."

"Yeah, you're acting like you guys are married for the past few days…" James chimed in, smirking as he put his hands on the back of his head. He only whistled innocently when Sirius and Aurora threw him dangerous looks. 

For the rest of the trip, Sirius and Aurora didn't say a word; they only glared at each other once in a while. Remus sighed repeatedly as Peter silently cowered – the boy wasn't actually good in dealing with winter. James and Lily, meanwhile, were talking animatedly at the back of the group; the girl apparently forgot about her 'fear' temporarily.

"Ooh, Honeydukes!" Aurora exclaimed suddenly, running ahead of the Marauders and hurrying inside. She had an amused, child-like expression on her face as she set sight on the magical sweetshop; making her archenemy smile knowingly.

Sirius seemed to have stopped, looking like he was frozen as he stared after the rest of his friends. He still had this amused grin on his face as he continued to look at the windowpane of the said shop, that is, until…

Remus elbowed him with a smirk. "Yeah, right…and you say you hate her…" With that, Remus walked away with a smile on his face, opening the door that led to the store. 

"HEY! I DO HATE HER!"

*

James whistled the tune of 'Jingle Bells' as he skipped down the boys' spiral staircase, his messy, unruly hair bouncing up and down his head. As he landed on the last step with a happy little skip, he readjusted his glasses and whistled 'I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus' when he plopped himself on the couch beside Sirius.

"What are _you_ so happy about, Prongs?" Sirius asked, looking up from his hands. 

"Actually, I don't know." James answered, still in a very happy mood. "I just feel happy for some reason."

Sirius groaned. "Don't you dare say you actually feel the Christmas Spirit, Prongs."

"Oh, I feel the Christmas spirit, all right," He said in a singsong voice, as if intent on annoying someone. "I feel it."

"James, you've become one of those stupid little Christmas-obsessed kids who run around screaming for the decorations on the Christmas tree." Sirius commented, looking back at his hands. He had been examining them carefully, as if checking if his hands were still smooth.

"Padfoot, it's Christmas. And guess who's staying," James said in between whistles.

"Ooh! Snivellus! Snivellus' staying!!!" Sirius exclaimed, joyous as well. "We can pull pranks!"

James waved his hand, dismissing the matter. "So, anyway, where's Lils? She's not yet here?" 

Sirius raised his eyebrows. "You don't know? She went home for Christmas." 

Hazel eyes widened in surprise when he heard Sirius's news. "What do you mean she went home for Christmas?! She never went home for Christmas! She only comes home if I come home!"

"Oh yeah, it's because of her sister, right? Well, no one actually knows. I think Callaway's the only one who knows why, but hey, she's not here, so I'm happy." 

"But I'm her best friend!" James defended, still furious on why Lily wouldn't tell him she was going home for Christmas. "I should know!"

"Well you don't." Sirius said matter-of-factly. "Don't worry, I'm sure she'll write."

*

"_Don't worry, I'm sure she'll write._ 'She'll write' my ass."

James was glaring at him now, holding his knife threateningly and making it spin between his fingers. Remus' absence was quite noticeable when you look around the Gryffindor table. Peter was sent home because his parents were worrywarts and were absolutely worried that Voldemort would attack Hogwarts; nevertheless, a large amount of students stayed back for Christmas. James supposed it was because it would be safer for them to be under Dumbledore's care.

"Why the hell should you blame me for, Prongs?" Sirius demanded, swallowing a whole spoonful of bacon. "Just because your owl didn't show up for the past two weeks doesn't mean you have to take out your disappointment on me!"

James glared at him again behind his wire-rimmed glasses. "For your information, Mr. Padfoot, Apollo did show up for the past two weeks, only that the letters weren't from Lily." He struck his eggs with his knife with a loud clang. "Hmph, just because Aurora hasn't been writing to you don't mean you have to take out your disappointment on me."

Sirius narrowed his eyes – James always used his words when he wanted to annoy him. "Why the hell would Aurora write to me? Unless… of course! James, you know she loves me, right?"

Prongs narrowed his eyes. "You are so helpless, Sirius. You need a girlfriend. It's more of _hate,_ not love. She'd only write a howler to you, saying what a brainless git you are and everything…"

"And now you're taking her side…"

"Well, at some point, she is right. Hmph, _Don't worry, I'm sure she'll write_ my ass."

Sirius smirked. "So you want her to write on your ass?"

James threw an empty goblet at him.

"How come you're so hotheaded? You really miss Lily, don't you? So, my advice to you is get a girl and enter a broom closet, then boom – snog session takes all your problems away."

"To you, all your problems disappear with a snog session." James remarked, shoving a forkful of eggs inside his mouth.

Sirius chuckled. "Of course, Jamsie-poo, it's _magical._"

Prongs grabbed another empty goblet and threw it at his best friend, a menacing glare on his face. "Don't call me Jamsie-poo."

"Oh yeah, I forgot," Sirius said with a smirk, waving his knife. "Lily's the only one who's supposed to call you that."

Sirius received yet another blow.

*

"HOW come she's still not writing?! I need advice!" 

Sirius sighed. "Will you just calm down?! Why don't you go write to her?"

James glared at him through his spectacles, hazel-hued eyes glimmering in irritation. It was Christmas Eve already, the 24th of December, and the snow was falling harder than it should be. 

"I already wrote to her like," James ticked numbers off his fingers. "…Seven times this week! She still hasn't answered me! I'm _desperate, _Sirius! I need a GIRLFRIEND!"

"Don't tell me you want _her_ to be your girlfriend, Prongs." Sirius stated, wide-eyed. 

He shook his hands defensively. "No, no, no…I just don't know what to do…"

*

"No, no, no…I just don't know what to do…"

Aurora's clear, sapphire-blue eyes were widened to their fullest extent. 

"What are you looking at me like that for?!"

"I just…" Aurora started, eyes still widened. "I just don't believe it. Coming from you…it seems _impossible, _Lils. It just seems _impossible_ for you to fall for a guy like him."

Lily Evans, with her sparkling emerald eyes and perfect, auburn hair, fiddled with the ends of her pajamas. Her parents had permitted her to stay with Aurora and her family for the rest of the holidays, with her residing in a large Victorian-style mansion. 

"So, uh, Aurora, how come you're staying in a huge house like this?" Lily tried to change the subject, looking around Aurora's bedroom. It was lavishly decorated, mind you, since they were a pureblood wizarding family. 

"My mother died when I was six," Aurora started to narrate, leaning on the edge of her bed. "So my father went off and married my stepmother, who was really nice. When they got married, we moved into this old house that belonged to my grandfather, since he died shortly after the marriage. Then I became Alex's younger sister, and he took care of me whenever mom or dad wasn't around." 

"So this belongs to the Callaway family?" Lily queried. 

"Yeah," she agreed. "Now don't go and try changing the subject, Lily. I still can't believe you fell in love with James."

At hearing the name, Lily looked down on her feet once again and plopped down on the carpeted floor, her long auburn hair cascading down her shoulders. "Don't remind me. I mean, I never knew I would." 

"But you did," Aurora reminded her with a lopsided grin. "And that's the point – you fell in love with your best friend, who happened to be James Potter, one of the two biggest playboys in Hogwarts."

Lily raised an eyebrow. "And who's the other one?"

"The git — big, egotistical, Mr. Oh-Everybody-Loves-Me Sirius Black." Her best friend spat out spitefully. "Who else?"

The redhead smiled. "Care to tell me what horrible experience you had with him?" 

Aurora shook her head. "No."

"When did you meet, anyway?"

"You don't need to know."

"Oh c'mon Aurora!"

She turned to Lily. "Aren't we supposed to be talking about _you_ here? Why did it suddenly turn to talking about me?"

"Because your life is more interesting than mine." Lily said it simply, as if it was a world-known fact.

"How can it be interesting?" Aurora asked, waving a finger. "I have someone called Sirius Black to ruin my entire teenage life. Is that interesting?"

Lily giggled. "Yes," she said, waving a finger too. "Because as they say, the more you hate, the more you love."

Aurora glared at her. "Why don't we go to your beloved, for once, and not my archenemy?" 

The redhead waved a hand defensively, since her best friend was already on the verge of killing her. "Alright, alright…so what do you need to know?" 

"When."

"Some weeks ago."

"How."

"I don't actually know."

"Why?"

"Because he's James?"

Aurora shook her head. "A more precise answer, please."

Lily glared at her. "What do you want me to say then?!"

The light-brown haired girl smiled and titled her head, her locks spilling upon the dark blue bed sheets. "Say the things you really love about him, you know," Aurora pointed out, looking like an obsessed fanatic. "What you really like about him."

"What I really like about him?" Lily asked, staring thoughtfully at the ceiling as well. "Uh…let's see…his smile, I guess…that lopsided grin of his…. I'd have to say I'm NOT amused whenever he messes up his hair – but I like his hair naturally, without those extra rumpling of sorts. And…uh…and…"

Aurora looked at her curiously. "And?"

"I can't tell you the rest." 

"WHAT?!" Aurora exclaimed, sitting right up. "Why the HELL can't you tell me the rest?! I'm your best friend and I deserve to know everything!"

"Not nearly everything, Aurora," Lily said pointedly. "Not nearly everything.

"Well I deserve to know something!"

"I already told you something!"

"That's not enough!"

Aurora suddenly smirked, something evil creeping up her brain. "Oh I know why you won't tell me the rest," she said in a sinister manner, sneering at her best friend. "It's one of your little fantasies, isn't it?"

Lily's eyes widened. "What do you mean 'fantasies'?"

"Aha," Aurora scoffed, holding her head up high as if she knew everything. She mimicked a lovesick girl's voice. "Don't pretend not to know, Lily. They're _fantasies,_ you know, those things you think about every night before you go to sleep. You know, like one night, with the full moon shining bright, you finally but suddenly find yourself locked in his tight embrace —

The redhead grabbed a pillow from the bed in the middle of Aurora's sentence and threw it smack on her face.

"HEY! THAT'S NOT FAIR!"

*

The moonlight illuminated patches of the sheets wherein she lay under. Her scarlet hair was scattered all over the pillows, looking like threads of silk that glimmered in little light. Her emerald eyes were lazily opened as she tried to keep herself awake, conveying the message that she was absolutely sleepy.

But at that night, the Sandman wasn't around. Sleep seemed to have no plans of overcoming her senses right now, right when she needed it. The wind blew fiercely against the walls of the Victorian home, making the curtains and canopy of her room billow like haunting cloaks that belong to Dementors. 

Lily rolled to her side, her hand limply lying beside her head. Thoughts had been swimming in her head for quite some time now, and it seemed that nothing could make those thoughts go away. 

A fist clenched and unclenched itself. "Stupid James…he's the reason why I can't sleep…stupid, stupid, stupid…"

She rolled over to her other side. 

"Stupid, stupid, stupid…"

And yet again, she rolled over. 

"Stupid, stupid, stupid…"

_'Worried, aren't you?_'

Lily rolled her eyes. 'Oh, hi Ms. The-Mysterious-Unknown-Voice-Inside-My-Head. It's been a long time. What do you want today?'

_'Oh,_' said the voice. _'Nothing much — just to let you know your final fear of loving James Potter.'_

'Oh.' Lily thought. 'That. I should've known you'd appear the next sleepless night.'

_'Right on time, am I?'_

'My, I'm going insane…I'm having a conversation with the voice in my head.' Lily closed her eyes. 

_'Anyway, to put things mildly, you're in the fear of rejection._'

Lily's eyes opened with a jerk to the point that in the middle of the night, she bolted straight up from the surface of her bed. 

"REJECTION?!"

Why You Annoy Me: Part 4

Author's notes: Hope you liked: please R&R!   


	5. The Little Trip Back Home

"Aurora, you have to run, _now!"_

"What?!"

"Voldemort – he's coming to get you! Go and leave!"

"But Alex, I –

Someone screamed downstairs. A maid was dead.

"Just go on and leave! Don't be stubborn! I'll handle this –

A figure slowly crept up the grand mahogany staircase. 

"Alex!" 

The man refused to listen to his sister's cries. The Dark Lord was slyly approaching, a triumphant grin placed on his thin, pale lips. 

"Go on, _RUN!"_

Without another look back, the twenty-year-old woman ran for the far end of the corridor, jabbing on a silver ornament that was placed on a wall. In an instant, a portion of the wall vanished as she heard his brother's incantations as flashes of light came visible. The electricity went out. It started to rain — hard.  

And then she heard him whisper. 

_"Avada Kedavra."_

Just as when she hurtled down a set of invisible steps, aiming to reach the wet grass far below, her brother's now lifeless body thumped against the second floor of their Victorian home. She forced herself not to look back, not to see if her older brother was actually dead; for the Dark Lord has retraced her steps and was standing on the edge of the corridor. 

"Foolish girl," said the Dark Lord, voice booming over the large lawn. "Where is Sirius Black?"

She dared not to answer, light brown hair matted to her face as she ran towards the woods. She knew where Sirius was, but she would not dare to save her life to betray her lover…betray her friends…

A set of footsteps was now following her at a steady pace. Panting heavily as she tried to evade branches and large roots of the trees, she tried to quicken her steps as she blinked out the rain that was starting to blur her vision. 

"Foolish girl," said the Dark Lord yet again. "Your attempts at losing me are futile." His voice was more booming than before. "It is better to let me know where the Secret-Keeper is rather than lose your life."

The woman continued to run. "For me, it is better to lose my life than tell you where he is!"

The Dark Lord grinned slightly at hearing the woman's proclamation. "Very well then," he started, finally standing on the clear path where the woman was running, "If you are no use to me, it is better for you to die. Good bye, Aurora Callaway."

Aurora didn't look back – she just kept on running as she tried to avoid the flash of green light that was hurtling towards her. Trying to think of another way to avoid dying, she thought of Apparition. But Apparition was too risky at the time – now that she was emotionally troubled, she could end up dead anyway. With a dive to the other way, aiming to miss the Killing Curse, a jet of green light blinded her sight and her body fell with a loud _thump _on the mossy ground, light brown hair scattered like a pool of golden threads…sapphire blue eyes now lost to a mere light gray…

**

"AAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!!"

Lily Evans, still a sweet 16-year-old girl, woke up with a jerk as she heard a scream coming from the other room. Bolting up straight from the safety of her duvet, she immediately ran outside to the corridor and headed towards her best friend's room.

"Aurora!" exclaimed Lily, rushing to the side of the huge canopy bed. "Aurora, are you alright?" 

With a shake of her head, Aurora looked at Lily with fearful eyes – eyes that Lily only saw for the first time. "Uh…yeah, I'm alright," she denied with a fake smile. "Just…had a nightmare."

The redhead chose not to pry deeper into the situation, for she herself had a strange nightmare. Of her clutching a baby, trying to stop the Dark Lord on murdering her child named 'Harry'.

"So…" Aurora spoke up, voice still cracking. "What…why are you here?"

"I heard you scream, of course. I was just nodding off to sleep right after when the voice inside my head said to me that I was afraid that James would reject me —

Lily immediately covered her mouth as her deep emerald eyes were widened in surprise. She just blurted out something she shouldn't have, and she was now sure Aurora was going to pester her for the whole week until they had to come back to Hogwarts.

"Wait a minute there, Lils," said Aurora, raising her eyebrows in inquiry as she threw back locks of light brown past her shoulder. "Did you just say you were afraid of James rejecting you?"

The redhead shook her head as she continued to cover her mouth. 'Stupid, Lily! Stupid!'

Aurora's sapphire eyes brightened up. "You're afraid of rejection, aren't you?"

The Head Girl once again shook her head. 

"Oh c'mon! Lils, James wouldn't do that to you! You're his best friend!"

"But," Lily choked out, still covering her mouth with the palm of her hand. "But what if I wasn't?"

"You ARE his best friend now, right? That's what matters!"

"But what if he treats me just like his picks-of-the-week? Like trash to be thrown out a week later? I don't want that, Aurora," Lily exclaimed. "Because I love him and I want to be with him forever."

Aurora tsk-tsked a few times as she shifted on her bed. "Lils, why don't you go and find out if he loves you? He's not worth of your feelings if he'll just do that…and you're not worthy being treated like trash that waits for garbage day." Sighing longingly and starting to stare out the huge bay window located in her room, the light-brown-haired girl smiled. "You know, Lils, if I was in your position and I really, _really_ love him, with all my heart and soul…it would be heaven for me just to be with him even for a week. You know, just to be with him and feel that he has feelings for me even though he hasn't…just for one week. 

It would be practically heaven…" she turned sharply to her best friend. "I don't know about you though…I think you'd probably think otherwise, but hey, I'm not that voice in your head."

Lily and Aurora giggled. She had a point. 

*

"Aww…poor puppy, all sad that his master's gone…"

Sirius glared at Remus as the pale-haired boy sat beside him. "And what does that mean?"

"You've been looking so lonely ever since Aurora left," Remus said in a matter-of-factly tone, as if it was a fact that the whole world knew. "Looking like a lost little puppy…"

"You'd want me to fight with you then?" Sirius asked threateningly, grabbing a cushion. 

"Oh no," Remus said mockingly. "Our fights would have no meaning unless I was Aurora. Then you'd feel so joyous that she's back, feeling so happy that she'd be here to glare the glare you love, and then she'd be saying —

"'Oh Sirius, I missed you so much!'" James suddenly burst out, mocking a girl's voice as he and Remus started to snigger. Remus Lupin's monthly, weeklong absences were over and he was back, alive at the Gryffindor Tower. 

Sirius grabbed another cushion and threw them both at his best friends' direction. "Some friends you are!" 

James pulled the scarlet pillow out of his face. "Oh yeah, we are," said he, readjusting his glasses. "You want us to be better friends? We'll be happy to tell Aurora that you love her."

Sirius threw another pillow at him. "You seriously have a problem. So, what's happening with _Lily?_" Sirius asked in a teasing manner. Remus, meanwhile, groaned in exasperation at Sirius's utter stupidity at mentioning Lily once again. Here James will rant…in 3…2…1…

"SHE'S NOT WRITING YET!" James screamed, not caring if anybody was around, for nobody was. "I just can't believe she's ignoring me! What did I do, anyway? I already sent Apollo to her like 5 times yesterday and 3 times today and she's still not writing to me! Did I do something wrong? Am I too persistent? I just want to talk to her —she's my best friend! Is it a crime then, to ask a few questions? I suppose it's not a crime if I asked how well she was doing, if she received my Christmas present, if she's all right —

Padfoot cut him off. "It will be a crime if she thinks you're stalking her."

"I'm not stalking her!"

"Then why don't you just wait for her to come back and talk to her by then?" Remus suggested, raising his brown eyes towards the unruly haired boy. 

"Good idea, Moony! But I can't wait that long!"

"Then do," said Sirius. "Or else me and Moony will kill you if you keep ranting about it."

*

"My god Lils, what ARE these?"

As Aurora stepped into the guest room, tons of parchment was strewn across the desks and the sofa – and James's eagle owl Apollo was perched on a windowsill, staring curiously at Lily with its huge, circular brown eyes. Lily was seated in the center of the room, twirling a clean quill and seemed to be thinking if she'll answer to James's queries. 

"James's letters," said Lily simply, as if it was no matter at all. 

"How come you're not answering them?" Aurora asked.

Lily glared at her. "I'm still unsure of what to do – some side of me wants to hook up with him even for a mere week, but another tells me I shouldn't relate myself to him – said I'd only be trashed and everything…"

"So you're what, going to ignore him until you decide on what to do?" Aurora asked, taking a few Owl Treats from Lily's birdcage and feeding it to Apollo. 

"Yep, that's basically my plan."

Aurora sighed. "Whatever suits you, Lils…"

*

James was already ready to pull out his hair. He was absolutely frustrated by now – he hated having friends who don't talk to you at all – and he really needed to talk to Lily for relief. It was already the date of arrival for those students who went home for Christmas, and the beautiful redhead wasn't in sight.

"Oh god, where is she, where is she…?" James chanted over and over again, scanning the crowd of Hogwarts students that passed them by in the Entrance Hall. As his hazel eyes searched the throng for a certain redhead, Remus and Sirius, plus Peter now, sighed. 

"You seem to be getting blinder everyday, my friend," Sirius stated, pointing at a pair of Gryffindor girls who were starting up the marble staircase. "There she is."

James's hazel eyes brightened up at the sight of his best friend, and due to that happiness, he started to push through the crowd to catch up with her. 

"Lils! Hey Lils! Over here!" he desperately waved, running up the staircase as the rest of the Marauders ran behind him. 

Aurora was the first one to look down. "Oh hi James! How are you?" she asked kindly. 

"Fine," said James, finally trotting beside his best friend. "Except that someone," he coughed loudly towards the redhead beside him, "…Kept on not answering my letters. Mind explaining that to me?"

"We were busy, to put it simply," said Lily, avoiding eye contact. She tried to move ahead of the group but a hand tried to back her down. 

"Are you mad at me, Lils?" James asked quietly, although Lily could understand him quite clearly through the crowd. 

Lily didn't answer – she simply turned away and walked right up the staircase without another word, making James worry about the situation a bit more.

*

"God, I…just…don't know what I did…" 

Remus raised his eyes from his History of Magic essay, twirling his quill between his fingers. With his honey-brown eyes holding the expression of concern, he spoke up. "Why don't you just try to talk to her?"

"I did!" James said, starting to pace across the space they had in the common room. "I did, I did, I did, and she STILL doesn't talk to me! Ever since she came back from home, she's been treating me like this! And it's been like what," He ticked off fingers. "Two weeks!"

"Honestly, Prongs," said Sirius from the other side of the couch, stopping his writing of his star chart, "If you're that worried about her, why don't you try finding her right now to sort things out?"

James looked curiously at him. "Where the hell did you get that from?"

Sirius stared blankly at him. "Get what?"

Opting not to complicate the matter, Prongs bid goodnight and started to wander around in his Invisibility Cloak, nose buried in a tattered piece of parchment called the Marauder's Map.

*

James continued on walking down the corridor, tattooing the fact that Lily was in the Astronomy Tower in his head. Clutching the map, a lamp, and the Cloak was quite a task, so he decided to go with the lamp and the Cloak instead. 

He turned his head sideways – the Astronomy tower was quite far away from where he was. It would take a chore for him to find that passage that led to the Astronomy Tower right away since the trigger was a certain block of cobblestone. It wouldn't even help if he opted to run, since his footsteps would alert the caretaker and he'd end up in detention, not finding Lily. 

Setting his pace into a quicker one, Prongs sighed and continued on walking, hazel eyes set on a set of intricately designed glass doors on the end of the corridor. He knew she was there – she always was whenever she had trouble. 

The night breeze began to blow past her unwavering figure, making strands of perfect auburn dance with the wind as it left her quickly as it came. Little snow continued to fall, producing lumps of ice surrounding the 16-year-old girl, glittering in the pale moonlight. Telescopes were covered in snow as stars in the dark sky glimmered beautifully, shining like pale diamonds sewn into dark fabric. 

She sighed, digging her face into her gloved hands. She knew it would be cold, so she prepared herself for the cold, dressing warmly and thickly. She'd been sitting like that for more than an hour, thoughts seemingly swimming around her head, refusing to leave her at peace. With the winter wind whipping her hair, making tendrils fly gracefully off her shoulders, Lily Evans sighed again.

Lily always liked being alone in the Astronomy Tower – it always gave her peace of mind whenever she came here alone and troubled. Her mind would sort things itself as she thought about them in peace, in solitude. 

But today was absolutely different. Her mind couldn't sort things itself for she herself had trouble thinking about her thoughts in peace. Her heart always thumped wildly against her ribcage whenever she thought of what to do – it was all too much for her to bear. 

'God…why did it have to be him…? Why did I have to fall in love with someone as…' Lily thought hard for a perfect word – one that didn't insult too much, one that didn't praise too much. '…stupid as him?' 

Suddenly, she straightened up, deep emerald eyes widened in alert. She looked around the tower, eager to find someone for something moved – and she found the glass doors slightly ajar. 

"Who's there?" Lily asked quietly, brushing off a few tears that decided to fall at that minute. Stupid James Potter.

No one was in plain sight, but a deep, angelic voice answered her query. "I am," the voice said, and a gloved hand grabbed the ends of a silver cloth and pulled it away. The sturdy form of James Potter materialized in front of her, taking her by surprise.

But he was taken aback too, for she was crying. 

Tearstains were visible on her cheeks. 

And her beautiful emerald eyes were absolutely bloodshot. 

"What…what are you doing here?"

Why You Annoy Me: Part 5

Author's notes: Hope you liked: please R&R! And also, to a reviewer (so sorry, I forgot your name ^^;), you can use the two way mirror just as long you say that it was my idea. ^^ Thank you!

I just noticed that there were stories, named 'The Pest' and 'The Things We Do', made by the author halona that used the name 'Aurora'. I just want to make it clear that I did not copy her character and that I based my character on my imagination. I named her after the goddess of dawn, and her second name after the Muse of tragedy.  

Please, r&R!

P.S: Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and all its characters, names, places and events. I only own the characters you do not recognize, ex. Aurora Callaway, Divina McKeller, James's owl Apollo, etc…


	6. The Little Stolen Kiss

He didn't say anything. 

"What are you doing here?" asked Lily once again, gulping down a huge lump in her throat. 

With no reply, James Potter only approached her and sat down beside her. Then he asked quietly, "Why are you crying?"

"It's none of your business."

"Yes," said James, looking at his best friend. "It is my business, since you're my best friend."

Lily scoffed. "You'll never understand, being the great James Potter you are," she said, looking away from those haunting hazel eyes. 

"And what does that mean?"

"It doesn't mean anything."

James was absolutely clueless and confused right about now. He had no idea on why Lily was acting like this towards him. As far as he knew, he wasn't doing anything wrong, especially to her. If so, then why was Lily like this?

"Lils," said James softly, suddenly finding himself entrances with the shimmering auburn locks that was spilled over her shoulder. "I…it's surprising, you know? I mean… I feel like I'm not your best friend anymore."

She didn't answer him. 

"If there was anything wrong…if I did anything wrong, then I'd wish you'd tell, not keep it to yourself."

Sobs escaped her throat. "But I can't, that's the problem, James. I just can't." 

He raised his eyebrows, hazel eyes glimmering behind wire-rimmed spectacles. "Why? I'm your best friend, Lily. Why can't you tell me?"

Deep inside her, anger started to reign. Can't James see how hard it was to keep everything inside? Especially when this 'thing' that was bothering her all year was about _him? Honestly, Lily thought, as she tried so hard not to cry, that James could be dense as a brick._

"Because it concerns you, alright?" muttered Lily spitefully, even though she didn't know why she said it in that way. Maybe it was the anger that made her say those words that way. Maybe it was the irritation that was growing inside of her. God, she loved James Potter so much to the point she was even afraid of loving him. Gee…did that make sense?

James once again put his trademark confused puppy's look and raised his eyebrows again at the beautiful girl seated beside him. "Me…?"

"Yes," spat Lily, "It concerns you, are you happy now? Or maybe you just can't get enough attention and maybe not enough girlfriends that you'd want the whole thing, right?"

"Lily, what do you mean –

"I'm just so stupid, alright? Stupid enough to fall in love with a boy like you, my best friend, known playboy of the school. I'm stupid enough to fall in love with you and then later fear, because I'm afraid that you'd just throw me off after you've finished with me!" said Lily, forcing herself not to face James. "Do you know how hard it is for me to keep it all to myself? I have to endure every single day with you kissing a girl, having a snog session every night within the common room and not say a word at all. I can't say 'Oh James, I must say I'm getting irritated with all that snog sessions'. I can only look at the girls you toss around and fear that I'm going to end up like them!"

"Lily —

Lily glared at the stone veranda, still not making herself face James. "Don't 'Lily' me, James, that won't work. If I could only do what Aurora had said, I'll do it. But you know, James, the fear of rejection's starting to eat me up inside –

"Then why didn't you just tell me?" asked James, looking bewildered. 

Lily turned her head, making him see her tearful green eyes. "Oh god, for one of the most intelligent students in the whole school, you are pretty stupid, aren't you? It's not easy to stride up to you one day, surrounded by your endless girlfriends and say 'Oh hi James, I'm Lily Evans, your best friend, and I've been in love with you for the whole year!'"

Stupidity started to reign over James's dumbstruck head. "But other girls can do it –

Lily glared at him, tears running down her flushed cheeks. "Well I'm not one of those girls! Gee, James, I've been your best friend and I'm surprised you seem not to know a single thing about me! Your girlfriends probably erased me off your memory!" She stood up and brushed off the snow off her coat. "Have a nice life without me, alright?"

And then she stormed off, tears spilling profusely down her face, auburn hair whipping about and disappearing from the Astronomy tower before James could even stand up.

"Lily…"

*

"It's blueberry!"

"No, it's raspberry!"

"Blueberry!!"

"Raspberry!!"

"Why the hell would you know the flavor? I'm the one who's using it!"

"I'm an expert, since I've kissed so many girls, and I have a keen sense of smell."

"Not including me, and as I said, I'm the one who's using it!"

"Fine! If you're the one who's using it, let me see it then!"

She looked around her bag and shuffled her hands in her pockets, trying to see if the stick of lip balm could be seen anywhere. "I don't have it with me right now."

"Ha! So it's raspberry, then!"

"No, it's blueberry!"

"RASPBERRY!"

"BLUEBERRY!"

"RASPBERRY!"

"Goddammit, Sirius! If you're so intent in knowing what flavor of Aurora's lip balm is, why don't you just kiss her to get it over with?!" Remus Lupin cried exasperatedly, making the two stop arguing over the said flavor of the lip balm. A moment earlier, Sirius (seated next to Aurora at the Gryffindor table, a deadly combination) sniffed out a fruity scent and blamed Aurora's lip balm, accusing it to be flavored raspberry. Aurora argued, saying that her lip balm was flavored blueberry. And thus started the petty little fights the two sixteen-year-old purebloods kept on doing for the past days.

"Fine," murmured Sirius, smiling a demented smile. "I will." 

And he took Aurora by the shoulders, also by surprise, and pressed his lips firmly against hers. 

Sirius, after the stolen kiss, licked his lips in a taunting manner and smirked evilly at Aurora. "Blueberry it is, then."

Aurora, meanwhile, was mad beyond her wits. She threw her knife and fork down on her plate and death-glared Sirius to the fullest extent, wishing under her breath that Lucifer would appear and take Sirius down to hell. As anger started to reign over her, she stood up abruptly that it took Sirius and Remus by surprise.

"HOW DARE YOU STEAL A KISS FROM ME, YOU GODDAMN PATHETIC DOG!" shouted Aurora, glowering upon Sirius, triggering her mad temper. Remus groaned in frustration, irritated on how stupid Sirius might be on some occasions. "YOU'LL DO JUST ABOUT ANYTHING TO WIN A STUPID ARGUMENT!!! OH, HOW PATHETIC YOU ARE, SIRIUS BLACK —

Her voice was echoing all over the Great Hall. Even Slytherins, including Sirius's younger brother Regulus and his cousins Bellatrix and Narcissa, looked at them with great interest. Andromeda, meanwhile, was staring amusedly at them along the Gryffindor table.

"Miss Callaway!" said Professor McGonagall, striding dangerously down the aisle that separated the Gryffindors from the Hufflepuffs. "How dare you make such a racket in this Hall? Quiet down before I am forced to take points off my own house."

"But Professor McGonagall –

"Another thing like that, Miss Callaway, and I'll send you and Mr. Black here to detention," said Professor McGonagall in a final tone. 

Unfortunately, anger got the better hold of Aurora. She turned to Sirius, who was smirking evilly at her, licking his lips once again. "JUST BECAUSE OF YOU!" she shouted, apparently forgetting what Professor McGonagall just said.

"Miss Callaway, five points from Gryffindor." Said Professor McGonagall curtly, walking away from the Gryffindor table and approaching the High Table.

Aurora glared at Sirius for the last time. "Fine, I won't sit here." She said, moving a few seats away and sitting beside Lily, who had been quiet all the time.

"I really hate that stupid dog, stupid dog, stupid dog," chanted Aurora over and over again, jabbing her new knife at the pancakes she was supposed to slice. "Stupid dog, stupid dog, stupid dog," she continued.

After a while of chanting, Aurora looked sideways at her best friend. "Something wrong, Lils?"

Lily snapped out of her reverie. "Huh? What?"

"I asked if there was something wrong going on with you." Aurora repeated, raising her eyebrows in query. "You seem to be out of your mind more often."

"Nothing's wrong, Aurora," said Lily, prodding her stack of pancakes without much thought. "I just think I'm having a bad day."

*

"I hate that girl," said Sirius, stabbing his leftover scoop of butter. "I hate that girl, and I would forever hate her, as long as she lives…"

Remus raised his eyebrows. "But you kissed her, you idiot."

"Well," said Sirius, staring down the table at Aurora, who was looking concernedly at Lily. "I did like that kiss." 

"And yet you hate her," said Remus, chuckling. 

Sirius, meanwhile, stared at James, whom he had not heard a peep from the entire morning. "Anything wrong, Prongs?" 

Remus looked at James too. "You haven't said anything all day."

"I'm just concerned, you know…about Wormtail falling down the whole marble staircase…" said James offhandedly. 

"Since when were you concerned about Wormtail?" asked Sirius, curious. 

"What?" James asked, eyes widening. "What did I say?"

Remus looked at him with an unexplainable expression on his face. To James, he looked suspicious. "James," he said seriously. "What happened between you and Lily the other night?" 

James looked defensive through his wire-rimmed glasses. Nervously, he ran a hand through his unkempt hair. "Nothing happened." 

"Really now," remarked Sirius, suspicious too. "If nothing happened, you wouldn't be acting this strange."

"Really, nothing happened," said James. 

"We'll be the judge of that."

**

Only hushed voices could be heard inside the library, with the inclusions of whispers buzzing about and quills scratching, books being shut and books being opened. Several students could be found inside, doing assigned homework and research for different essays. 

James, meanwhile, was absolutely unfocused. He was tapping the end of his quill incessantly on his piece of parchment, making a huge inkblot develop into an even larger one on the surface. Peter seemed to be hypnotized by the continuous jabbing of the quill tip on the paper, and Sirius was watching the inkblot broaden. Remus, meanwhile, was the only one who was able to concentrate on his work. 

"You know, Prongs," said Sirius, tearing his eyes off the inkblot. "You're going to make a huge hole out of that inkblot if you go on."

James looked at Sirius, apparently clueless of what he was doing. "Oh," he said, staring down at his scroll of parchment. 

"Honestly," said Remus, peering at them over his book. "James, what's bothering you? You're really out of your character today."

"Nothing's bothering me, Moony," said James, starting his tapping-the-quill-tip-on-the-parchment habit again. He ran a hand nervously through his messy jet-black hair. "It's just that…"

Well? How could he say it? That for the past few days he's been feeling a weird emotion he'd never felt before? That for the past few days, he had become absolutely smitten and absolutely in love with his own best friend? 

James just couldn't help it. From that dramatic night on the Astronomy Tower, Lily had never left his mind. He always thought about her, how angelic she looked, how perfect a girl she was…slowly he found himself entranced whenever he looked at her, on how beautiful her auburn locks looked, how beautiful her startlingly green eyes were… 

And then he realized – she was the perfect girl for him. He realized how blind he had been, how stupid, as he found himself falling deeper in love with her. She'd been there forever, ever since he had set foot on the Hogwarts Express, especially when he accidentally dropped his wand and Lily handed it back to him. She'd been there for everything as he had been there for her. 

Sirius raised his eyebrows, opting to ignore Peter's bobbing head that started to follow James's quill. "It's just that what?"

"I feel funny," said James, covering up his confused emotion. 

"Something you ate?" asked Peter, still following James's quill. 

James grinned. "Maybe it WAS something I ate."

"C'mon now," said Sirius, waving a finger. "You're not telling us anything."

"I just said I felt funny."

"Felt funny about what?" Remus asked.

"Do I need a reason to feel funny?"

Sirius pretended to look thoughtful. "I think yes, because if you feel funny all of a sudden without any reason at all, people might consider you mental, my friend."

James glared at him. "Do you need to know?"

"Yes, because we're your best friends." Remus remarked over the top of his book.

"Well, I have another best friend," said James, looking away from the peering eyes of the two Marauders.

Sirius's brain did function properly; problem is his brain wasn't as fast as Remus's. "You're in love with Lily, aren't you?" asked Remus, still looking inquisitively at James. 

Prongs looked bewildered. "No." he denied.

"Yeah you are!" Sirius chimed.

"No I'm not!"

"Yeah you are!"

"No I'm not!"

"Goddammit, why don't you just admit it?! You love Lily!"

"Goddammit," mocked James, "Why don't you just admit it?! You love Aurora!"

Sirius's eyes flashed. "Hey! I do not!"

"Do so!"

"Do not!"

"Do so!" 

"Do not!"

A female voice interrupted. "Do you mind?" said Aurora, glaring at Sirius as she pushed James's and Sirius's faces away. "This is a library, and we're trying to work here." She motioned herself and Lily, who was sitting on a table near them. 

James's face went startlingly rose.

"Oh, why are you here, Callaway?" Sirius said, smirking once again. "Want another kiss?"

She grabbed a book and slammed it on Sirius's face. "Kiss this."

Why You Annoy Me: Part 6

Author's notes: Sorry for the long delay! I got lots of work to do. ^^ I hope you all liked!!! Personally, I liked the part wherein Sirius got his stolen kiss, but hey, I dunno about you…

So, please, R&R!!!


	7. The Little Conversation Back Up At The T...

"Oh no, you're going at it ALL over again…"

He looked up at his best friend, startled at the way he had addressed him. "Huh? What was I doing?"

"Staring at her like she's the only thing existing in the world." His best friend stated plainly. "Or like she's the only girl in the world left, you know. What in the _world's happening to you?" _

James smiled dreamily, resting his chin on his palm. "Nothing…"

Remus, meanwhile, snickered as he scratched the tip of his quill against his scroll of parchment. In other words, he was writing. "It's just what's happening to you, Padfoot. You're always staring at Aurora, you know? If I knew better, I'd say you were in love with her." 

Sirius glared at him.

"No, wait," said Remus, waving a hand as he stopped briefly from his note-taking. "I take that back. That's too drastic. I'd just say you liked her."

"As in like, _like her?" James asked, interested._

"Yeah, like, _like her." Remus agreed._

"I do not like, _like her." Sirius disagreed, glaring at the two of them. "C'mon! I mean, what guy would like such a rude, crass and impolite girl who prances around hating a wonderful guy like me?" _

Remus snorted. "The rest of Hogwarts' male population, I think." 

"Lupin, Black and Potter," said Professor McGonagall from the center of the class. "I would appreciate it very much if you keep your discussion down or not discuss at all."

Sirius didn't heed the warning. "Then they're stupid, we're not."

That statement made Remus look down quietly on his parchment, mumbling something that was absolutely incoherent. With Sirius's keen hearing, he heard only a few words, including 'then', 'I', 'must' and 'be'. If you had brains you would've strung up what that phrase means (I don't mean to offend anyone), but then Sirius's brain wasn't working quite well. 

"Mr. Black," Professor McGonagall said, turning sharply at their direction. "Perhaps you would like another meeting with Mr. Argus Filch, our new caretaker, to discuss your set of detentions?"

Padfoot shook his head, sending soft locks of black-blue to wave, hypnotizing a few Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors. 

"Why the hell did we end up discussing MY life? Aren't we discussing Prongs'?" asked Sirius in a whisper. 

"No, no, no," said Prongs, waving his hands. "You may not discuss my Lily-less life any longer. Take pity on me, my dear Marauders." 

"Prongs," said Remus on a more serious note, "It may not be worth it to spend the rest of your life loving someone secretly when she herself loves you back."

James raised his eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

"You already know that she loves you, James," remarked Sirius, starting to write down a few words. "What's the problem?"

Prongs looked around carefully, scanning the area if anybody else was within earshot. Well, of course, with the exception of Peter, since he didn't care if Peter heard what they were saying. "I don't even know…I just don't know what's going to happen, you know? If I tell her…"

"Then why don't you try and tell her?"

**

"Lils cheer up a bit," she said, peering concernedly at her best friend. "You're really acting strange." 

Lily Evans didn't reply – she did was she had been doing for the past weeks, which was ignoring any comment made on her unusual behavior.

"Please?" Aurora pleaded, her eyebrows knitted in frustration. "You're not going to get any prettier with that thin line on your face."

"I don't care," said Lily nonchalantly. 

Aurora laughed. "That's true – you don't need to be prettier anyway. So," she put her quill down. "What's the fuss all about?"

"You know…ever since that night he talked to me," said Lily quietly, taking a break from her writing as well. "I felt better. I got everything I was hiding off my chest, and I was relieved. I thought everything was going to be alright, even if James didn't exist in my world."

"And the problem is…?" Aurora asked, clueless. Through her best friend's narration, she thought it was going okay for her. 

"Well…" Lily looked down at the table they were occupying in the Gryffindor Common Room. Of course, Lily considered herself to be an average person – a person who makes mistakes but avoids making them. But now, at this very moment, she knew — she made one of the biggest mistakes of her life. To make the assumption that her life would be nothing of short of normal when the love of her life would disappear was one of the biggest mistakes she had made. For her, life turned to hell.

She couldn't think straight, for her memoirs of what had happened in the tower always rushed back to her – sometimes too often to the point that she gets sick of the said memory. Lily couldn't concentrate on her work as much as she would want to; since her mind would always make her think that she was either too mean or too subtle. It made her think sometimes that she was too harsh to James, and that the whole thing was her fault and not his. But sometimes her mind made her think that she was too subtle, and that she didn't vent out her anger completely, and that she should've shouted at James. 

Lily was snapped out of her thoughts when Aurora interrupted her. "Well…?"

The redhead took a deep breath. "I never get to concentrate on things. My life has been such a total mess ever since we argued, and I'm already regretting my decision to tell him what I felt." 

Aurora looked at her inquisitively. "Why so?"

"I mean, I should've listened to what you said," said Lily, looking dismayed. "Just for a moment's bliss…even for just a mere week or so…I should've let myself enjoy his company rather than to destroy my chances at everything." Her voice started to crack unwillingly as she continued. "I wrecked our friendship, which was the only thing I had with him. The only thing I could cherish with him, you know? I do love him…love him so much," Lily took a great intake of breath. "I should've…followed what you said…"

The other girl was taken aback. Did Lily mean what she said? Did Lily love James this much to the point that she couldn't do anything else but lament on her mistake? "Lily," said Aurora, not noticing that the crowd was slowly dispersing, slowly leaving to enter the peace of their dormitories. "Don't worry about that. It's alright…"

But she was wrong.

It wasn't alright.

The tension between the two was so thick you could slice it in half. Lily and James wouldn't even face each other unless they were forced to. Neither would dare to make eye contact, let alone start a friendly conversation. But who could, anyway, at their situation? Striking up a mere conversation of what potion ingredient to add lastly to a Curing Concoction needed a large amount of courage. They would speak to each other, of course, but only in one-word/two-word replies. When they converse, it would be like 'How are you?', then one would reply 'fine.' At that, the conversation was finished.

Whilst Sirius and Aurora would start a petty little fight about why Godric Gryffindor's hair was dark red and why Rowena Ravenclaw's hair was pale periwinkle, James and Lily would look away from each other in complete timidity and silence.     

Sirius lazily stuck out his right foot, blocking the entrance to the girls' staircase. He was sitting in an armchair resting against the wall that was located to the left of the set of stairs. 

"Goddamn it, Black," said a familiar female voice. "Get you foot out of there." 

Sirius grinned. "Make me." 

Aurora smirked. "Fine," She took her foot (her school shoes had heels 1 and a half inches tall) and jammed it onto Sirius's toes. He shrieked and instinctively pulled his foot out of the stairway, massaging it through the leather of his shoes. "Did I make you get your foot out of there to let me pass?" she said in a sickeningly sweet tone.

"OH MY *!@#$$%^ GOD, CALLAWAY! WHAT THE ^%$#*&! HELL DO YOU HAVE IN YOUR *@#$%!^ HEELS?!" Sirius burst out loud, taking the whole Gryffindor house by surprise. First years were wide-eyed as they stared, wide-eyed, at the speaker. 

"You really won't want me docking off points for your profanity, Sirius," said Remus, smirking as he approached the two, whilst Aurora sneered and walked up the girls' staircase. "But since you used profanity in the midst of innocent first years and in front of a very good looking girl, you will have to suffer the consequences." 

Sirius raised his eyes to Remus, still massaging his foot. "What do you -?"

"Hey Aurora," said Remus loudly, as James approached and smirked as well. Aurora turned around in a flutter of robes. 

"Yeah?"

"Since you shoved your one and a half inch heel on Padfoot's…well, foot, Padfoot would like to express his undying love for you." James said; grinning triumphantly as Aurora smirked at his words.

"Why Black," said Aurora, smiling sweetly atop the staircase, seemingly glowering upon the frustrated Marauder. "Thank you for your feelings. I would gladly spread that to the world." 

And then she was off.

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING?! YOU _DO_ KNOW THAT I ABSOLUTELY HATE HER, RIGHT?!" Sirius screamed; eyebrows knitted together in fury. "I _SO_ DO NOT LOVE HER!"

"It would be really nice if you would shut yourself up." James said as he waved his finger. "You've been shouting often lately."

"Well, Prongs," Sirius said as a matter-of-factly. "You would start shouting often if you get one and a half inch heel shoved down on your toes." Then he continued to massage his foot through his leather shoes. 

"So, Prongs," said Remus, settling himself on an armchair beside Sirius. "What's been happening with you lately?"

James sighed audibly and settled on an armchair in front of the two. "Everything's been alright…I've been meaning to talk to Lily before we go and end the year, since it's already June…"

Sirius stared at him wide-eyed, just like the first years had done to him. "What are you, nuts? James, it's just _February._ You're going to wait like…" he ticked his fingers off, "Four months?! You're going to let her suffer for four months?! "

"What about you, Prongs?" asked Remus incredulously. "You're going to let yourself suffer for four more months?" 

"So? It's no big deal, really." James said plainly. "Don't make a matter of it."

"But it is a matter! Don't be stupid, Prongs!" 

Peter squeaked up. "Don't lower yourself to my level!" 

Remus smiled kindly at Peter, who was sitting on a pouf next to James, remarkably unnoticed before. "Don't be like that, Peter. You're not stupid."

Peter's lips broke into a smile. "Thanks."

"Anyway, as we were saying, you should do it now," said Sirius. 

"That's not what we were saying!" Remus countered. "We were saying that James shouldn't wait until JUNE!"

"But that's too long!" Sirius argued.

"Well, that was our point!" 

"And that is why I vote for the motion that James should speak to our Lily dearest right now."

"But that's too drastic for a thing James should do."

"What do you suggest, then, Moony?"

"That James should spend more time thinking on what he should say." 

James heaved another sigh. "Goddammit, I'll just talk to her right now if it would make you two stop acting like a married couple. If I didn't know better, I'd say you two were gay."

Remus and Sirius stared after Prongs as he started up the boys' staircase. "THAT IS _SUCH_ A LIE, JAMES POTTER!"

Moony looked sideways to the window. "Besides, I'm in love with a GIRL, thank you very much." 

His words made Sirius's head snap towards his direction so fast that he could've cricked his neck. "You're in love, Moony?"

*

James suddenly regretted in doing what he just said. He was trudging down the corridor that led to the Astronomy tower, holding his silvery Invisibility Cloak high up above his head, but also making sure that with every step he'd make his shoes wouldn't show. It was getting tiresome for him, since he already reached the height of 6'2 & 1/2. Holding the Cloak high enough to cover him and make him walk was beginning to be a chore. He also had the difficulty of squinting through the darkness, since he had no time to grab a lamp and make sure he'd bring it back. The last time he was here, he left the lamp and made their new caretaker query every student of whom the lamp belonged to.

"There she is…" James whispered triumphantly, sensing his skin turning into a lot of Goosebumps. His heart started to beat so fast it hurt, and nervousness started to run a course through his veins. Taking a deep breath, James opened the door to the large balcony without a creak or sound and closed it behind him.

She was no longer sitting down on the floor, looking lonesome on the large veranda like she did the first time around. Lily, the angel she was, was leaning on the ledge with a distant look on her face, as if she was contemplating very hard on something. Her long auburn locks glinted in the moonlight as the wind toyed with them, swaying the strands back and forth in a hypnotizing manner. 

James found himself staring at her, entranced in her ethereal beauty. 

"…James?" 

He shook himself out of his trance. "Uh…Lily…hi…" 

Lily blushed profusely and pretended to be interested in the grounds below. "Hi…uh…why are you here?"

He took a great intake of breath. "I…I wanted to talk to you." 

"About…?"

James gathered his courage and looked at Lily straightly in the eye. That could be slightly impossible though, since Lily was staring at the grounds below, admiring the darkly hued grass as the slightly warm wind blew past them. "We need to straighten things out." 

Lily gulped a huge lump in her throat, a lump that has been resting there ever since she heard someone enter the veranda. "W-what things?" she heard her own voice crack. "Everything's been fine."

He shook his head, not even caring if his gesture was visible. "Don't deny it, Lily. My life has been a total wreck because of you."

Lily turned around. "The feeling's mutual, then."

"But I want everything straightened out," said James. "I want everything the way it was before all this happened."

"As much as I would want that to happen, James," Lily smiled a pained smile. "We can't change what we've done."

"But we can. I told you, we can straighten things out and make everything clearer."

"Everything _is clearer." Lily stated. "I love you, James. But I'm scared to do so. Probably you know why."_

James took another great deal of air. "But you don't need to be scared, Lily," said James seriously, voice soft and husky that Lily found her façade melting like wax before a fire. She tried to be strong and tried to resist his charms, but James got her hook, line and sinker.

Lily whimpered under his gaze. "Why not?"

"I promise," said James. "Even if what I'm going to say would probably make you laugh for the rest of your life at its cheesiness, I'll try not to make you scared." 

"You're already making me scared."

"See?" asked James. "That's my point! I'm already trying to make this easy for the both of us and yet you keep on cutting me off!" He sighed. "Lily, what do you want?"

"What I want?" Lily asked. "What I want is what we have now. Why can't you just leave me alone? I'm trying to forget everything that my heart keeps on telling me, but somehow, I can't. I would rather have you not noticing me at all rather than to notice me and suffer the consequences. I want to lead a normal life. So please," Lily looked at him pleadingly. "I'd rather…I'd rather lead my life…w-without y-you in it…. J-just…j-just…"

Tears started to stream down her cheeks. She looked down at the floor, whimpering as she tried to hold back her tears, finding herself unable to continue. What was the matter with her? They were only words – they were no reason to cry. 

But she was wrong.

"I'm so sorry," said James softly. He approached her so slowly, carefully, as if each step would hurt his angel even more. He gingerly brought his hand to her cheek, wiping her tears away with his thumb in a comforting manner. "I can't leave you alone. I have to be here…for you…to stick with you whenever you're down…. I just can't leave you alone, since I need you myself…and I just can't leave you alone, Lily…"

Lily looked up at him with tearful emerald eyes. "Why…why not?"

"I just can't leave you alone, since I love you."

Why You Annoy Me 

Part 07

Author's notes: Next chapter's epilogue! It's going to be finished!

 Yay!  Please, R&R!

  
         


	8. The Little Ending Which Has No Connectio...

She gulped a huge lump that resided in her throat. Snow started to fall slowly from the heavens above, swaying slightly as the wind carried them. All she could do was sputter. "Y-you…y-you…"

"Yes, Lily," said James in a final sort of voice, looking firmly but softly at her. He took several steps towards her, closing in on her as he slowly depleted the distance between them. Finally stopping exactly in front of her, he lowered his gaze. 

Lily felt trapped under his captivating gaze. She couldn't move a single inch, not even a single centimeter; as she continued to lean on the stone ledge, looking up at hazel eyes with no other choice, she kept herself quiet in front of James.

"Won't you believe me?" he asked huskily, voice sounding as if he was pleading for her to. With her heart thumping wildly beneath her chest, Lily found herself unable to avert her stare. Could anyone be this entrancing to the point she couldn't _move? _

"James…I…I…" Lily gulped another huge lump. "I don't know…"

The snowfall continued to fall down heavier than expected. Soon no sky could be seen, only a large amount of snowflakes that swirled down to the castle below them. 

No words were exchanged – only a heavy silence remained. It was all too fluid – all too fast, yet it was swift and soft at the same time. How James managed it – Lily could only ponder on how. All of her thoughts immediately melted away as the only thought left was how sweet he could be, as he softly pressed his lips against hers.

It was perfect heaven. Warmth flowed through the both of them as their small kiss flowered into a passionate one, contrasting the coldness of their surroundings. 

And to the both of them, nothing could ever disturb their makeshift heaven.  

"I CANNOT believe this."

He smirked. "Oh yes I can."

She turned to Remus. "Are you SURE I have to do this?" 

"I'm afraid so," said Remus, smiling painfully, although he tried so hard to stop a nosebleed coming on full blast. He was looking away from the girl speaking to him, covering his mouth with his hand that was slightly agape. The girl looked absolutely amazing, even though Remus thought it was quite indecent of Sirius to force her to wear that outfit. 

"Why don't you just get that robe off?" Sirius said, playful smirk still present upon his lips. "If you won't I'll make you do something even more embarrassing." 

Remus unconsciously snorted, turning around from the two. They were in the boys' dormitory, coming back from the girls', since Sirius asked him to fetch Aurora from the dormitory after her…'makeover'.

It all started with a simple bet. Sirius thought that Lily and James's fight started because of their feelings while Aurora thought that Lily and James's fight started because of James himself. You probably think it was stupid, since it was Aurora who was most likely to declare what Sirius had thought. It was quite understandable, since she was quite pissed off at James for making Lily cry all the time. So the pair started arguing, fighting over who was right. And then they bet on it – if Sirius won, Aurora would have to suit up in any outfit he desired for a whole day and start acting like she was in love with him to the whole school. If it was Aurora who won though, Sirius would have to treat her to a shopping spree at Honeydukes the next Hogsmeade visit and that he would have to declare to the whole school that she was the love of his life.   

Unfortunately for her, Sirius won the bet; he acquired the help of the Trio of Bimbos (consisting of McKeller, Avant and Walker) to suit Aurora up and the help of Remus Lupin to fetch her from the dormitory. 

"But it's not fair! You got McKeller in this! I had no help at all!" said Aurora indignantly, frowning as she held her robes on tighter around her. "If I knew…oh if I knew…"

"My dearest Aurora, you should've known that all is fair in love and war," Sirius said in a strong French accent, provoking Aurora to punch him in the face. 

"Umm…Aurora?" Remus spoke up, still turned away from the brown-haired beauty. "Wouldn't it be better if you just followed him? Your bet was that you'd wear that suit for twenty-four hours…and well, I really think you wouldn't like to wear that suit any longer." He sniffed a little bit, still trying to evade the possibility of having a nosebleed.  

"Remember, my dear," said Sirius, still in that strong French accent, "The twenty-four hour time span doesn't begin until I see you in your suit." 

Aurora knitted her eyebrows in fury. "Aren't you satisfied with this stupid hairstyle they did to me?" 

Sirius chuckled lightly. It was absolutely true that she looked amusing (Remus bothered to differ – he thought she looked _amazing_) with that hairstyle. Her golden brown locks were parted into two, held away from her eyes by a frilly, black-gold-white-and-red headband with curly lace entrails on either side; but glossy strands of hair kept on blocking her blue eyes. The two equal parts of her hair were softly curled on their ends, pinned atop her head in semi-circles, decorated with frilly hair accessories of the same color as the headband, having the same curly lace entrails. The rest of her hair that didn't make it to the semi-circles was left dangling like shining threads of silk. 

'I should thank those girls later,' said Sirius in his mind, still smirking at his archenemy's appearance. She even had makeup on. 

"No." Sirius said vocally, capturing her attention. "Remember our bet, Aurora."

With an irritated grunt, Aurora hesitantly took the edges of her robe and pulled it open, revealing the outfit Sirius chose for her to wear. 

His mouth immediately hung open and a nosebleed threatened to rush down his nostrils as well. Color started to rise up his cheeks as fast as it could, and he now understood why Remus kept himself looking at the other direction. At the very first glance you wouldn't have thought it was Aurora at all; she looked like a cross between that girl from the Swiss Miss box and a French maid.

"Gryffindor colors, I s-see…" Sirius sputtered from his position; he was reeling over the edge of his bed. His statement was true – Aurora was decked out in scarlet and gold, with the additions of white and black. Sirius never really chose this dress for her – he assigned the task of dress-choosing to the Trio. He never really saw the dress before…well, until now. 

In addition to her hairstyle, her dress had the identical curly lace and the frills. It had an abundance of ruffles and the sleeves (if you can call them sleeves: her dress was off-shoulder) were puffed up and tightened around her arms by the same lace. She had what seemingly was a garter around her neck (like the ones brides place on their thigh for the groomsmen to get) and lace was still coming from it. 

Probably by now you'd be sick of lace, but Aurora was even sicker of it. From her elbows, once again, was lace, continuing up to her fingers until they dangled over her hand. A black-and-red corset adorned her torso, with gold and white laces that trailed off at her back. The frilly and ruffled skirt reached down an inch below her knees, overlapped by black and red cloth. To cap it off, she had black high heels with red, gold and white lace wrapped around her legs. 

Remus and Sirius couldn't face her without snapping their head up to prevent a rush of blood. 

"This is so stupid," said Aurora, glaring at Sirius, even though he was still reeling from the edge of his bed. "I can't believe I'm wearing this."

"I can't believe it either." Remus stated, voice muffled, since he still had his mouth covered. 

Before the three could converse any longer, the dormitory door opened, revealing a couple entering the room arm in arm with wide smiles spread upon their faces. 

Lily Evans' smile faltered immediately when she saw what her best friend was wearing. 

"AURORA, WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED TO YOU?!"

James tried to stifle his laughter whilst looking away. "Let me guess," he said wisely after letting his laughter subside. "You lost a bet…to Sirius. What else did he make you do?" 

Aurora sighed exasperatedly. "Act like I love him," she made a gagging noise right after. 

"Poor you," said Lily as she summoned her magical camera from her dormitory. "You must be pretty wrecked…"

Her eyes widened. "No, Lils, don't tell me you're in this too –

"Smile!"

Click.

It had been two months ever since that fateful night at the Astronomy Tower. April was a month filled with warmth and wetness, signaling that spring was definitely here. Also, it had been a month and three quarters of it ever since Aurora and Sirius' auspicious bet.

Lily and James finally got over their troubles and worries, deciding to give no damn to the world if they complained on their relationship. After all the uneasiness and queasiness they had gone through, everything was alright and fine for the both of them. 

Sirius and Aurora, meanwhile, gave no signs of ceasing in their bickering. Remus gave no sign of revealing the name of the girl he loved; no matter how much the rest of the Marauders pestered him. Peter, meanwhile, was still his usual self. 

 So, that was the end of their love story. 

Or was it…?

*

"Hey Lils," James Potter, now at the age of twenty, remarked as he apparated into the room, appearing with a small 'pop'. After reaching his desired destination, he plopped himself down a couch and smirked as he stretched his arm and curled it around his girlfriend's shoulders. 

"James," said Lily plainly, closing the book she was reading after placing a bookmark, then placing it on the coffee table. "Why are you here?"

James laughed. "You don't want to see me?" he said in a faux sad voice, pouting as Lily leaned back on the couch that belonged to her apartment. 

"It's not that," Lily answered him, snuggling into his embrace. "I thought you had work for the Order."

"I did. I'm already finished." He glanced up at the wall clock. "You were probably so caught up in reading that you didn't notice it was already midnight." 

It was her turn to pout. "I have to study for the exams, you know. I do want to pass and become a true Auror." 

"Lils, you won't take the exams until a week passes by," said James matter-of-factly, grinning at his girlfriend of four years. "Besides, you're absolutely wonderful – you don't need to study." 

Lily gave a small squeal as James enveloped her in his arms completely, dragging her along with him as he fell back on the cushions. Several locks of delicate auburn escaped from the messy yet elegant bun that was pinned to the back of her head, with his shining hazel eyes following the strands, as if he was hypnotized. 

James raised his finger and started to play with the lost stands of her long hair. "You're so beautiful; do you know that, Lily?" 

She grinned softly, raising her head a few inches to gain proper eye level, since she was on top of him. "You're so cute when your glasses are like that," she commented, gently poking his nose with the tip of her finger. 

He frowned slightly. "That's all you have got to say?" he asked, faking his sadness. "I say you're completely wonderful and beautiful and all you say to me is that I'm _cute?"_

Lily giggled as she adjusted her position on top of him. "What? You _are_ cute, Jamsie-poo."

"I'm not a dog. Sirius is."

"You want an ego booster then, Jamesie-poo?"

James nodded his head just like a little boy. "Yeah." He paused. "Nah. I don't need an ego booster anyway. You're an ego booster."

Lily smiled. "What do you mean by that?"

"That being with you already raised my ego to the fullest extent, high up above in the heavens that no one can bring it down except you." James whispered. 

"You know what, James Potter?" Lily asked, tracing a line from his cheek to his jaw with a fingertip. 

"What?" he asked back. 

"You're such a suck-up." She whispered, giggling a while later. James glared at her in retaliation. 

"Hey, I mean it!" James said. "You don't want to be praised? It's fine with me." 

"I'm joking." 

"Yeah, I know."

A matter of time passed until a new question resurfaced itself in James's mind. "Lils?"

Lily raised her head once again from its perch on his chest. "Yeah?" she asked weakly. 

"Why did I annoy you back in our sixth year?"

Lily smiled at the question, pushing back those lost locks of hers behind her ear. She thought for a moment before answering her boyfriend's query. "Why you annoyed me…hmm…let's see…. You were an arrogant, big-headed playboy back when we were at our sixth year. That's probably why you annoyed me." 

James looked at the distance for a while before replying. "Oh…yeah, I was such a prat back when we were at school. And yet you were still my best friend." 

"I sometimes marvel at my patience with you back then," Lily commented. 

"You know what, Lily?"

"Yeah Jamsie-poo?" 

James took a great intake of breath before whispering three little words into her ear. 

"I love you." 

"You know what, James?" Lily asked back. 

"What?"

She leaned back into his embrace. "I love you too…and that's probably another factor…why you annoyed me." Lily gave a small giggle as she gave him a small peck, for that was all she could manage – sleep started to overcome her slowly but surely, as if it was poison running through her. She closed her eyes after drifting her lips away from his, resting her head against his chest before dozing off to sleep.

James chuckled, closing his hazel eyes, not even bothering on taking off his eyeglasses. After a few minutes, sleep did overcome him, and everything rested in peace for the rest of the night.

That is, until Aurora apparated to their apartment the next morning with Sirius in tow, with him apologizing profusely. 

Why You Annoy(ed) Me

Epilogue

A. Pikachu

The fanfic is finished! Wait up for the sequels, predominantly titled _The Mysterious Little Fillers_! Please wait for them!!!!! 

I thank you all for your support! I hope you liked the whole fan fic, even though it's absolutely cliché and many people have done it before, and it's also absolutely _cheesy._ Please, review!! 

Thanks so much!

A. Pikachu

P.S: I'm just wondering…but to those who like the Sirius/Arabella pairing, please do not read…I don't want anyone offended. 

            Arabella Figg is that OLD lady that babysat Harry when he was still below eleven years of age. Arabella Figg is that OLD lady who is obsessed with cats and whose house smells of cabbages. Arabella Figg is that OLD lady who saw two dementors attack Harry and Dudley in book 5, chapter one. Arabella Figg was also the OLD lady who testified in front of the Wizengamot in Harry's trial. 

            I just can't understand it why people keep on pairing Sirius up with Arabella Figg, who was that OLD lady/squib. If you paired them up they would have a HUGE age difference, even if you transform Sirius into a sixteen-year old. 

            I mean no offense. ^^ thank you and bye!!! Please, r&r! Anyone who is kind enough to explicate the whole Sirius/Arabella thing, please do! It's going to keep bothering me…__


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